What are J.R.R. Tolkien’s three given names represented by the initials J.R.R.?

J.R.R. Tolkien’s three given names were John Ronald Reuel.

He was born John Ronald Reuel Tolkien on 3 January 1892 in Bloemfontein, in what was then the Orange Free State. “John” was his first given name, “Ronald” was the name commonly used by his family, and “Reuel” was a family name associated with his father’s side.

Tolkien became internationally known under the initials J.R.R., which distinguish him from other writers named Tolkien. His signature usually used the initials or the name Ronald Tolkien rather than a shortened version such as “John Tolkien.”

The initials are sometimes expanded incorrectly because readers assume the second and third letters stand for two middle names chosen in the modern English style. The canonical expansion is John Ronald Reuel, and it appears in biographies and reference works about the author.