What is H.P. Lovecraft's full middle name?

H. P. Lovecraft's full middle name was Phillips, making his birth name Howard Phillips Lovecraft.

Lovecraft was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on August 20, 1890. The initials “H. P.” are therefore an abbreviation of Howard Phillips, not a pen name or a shortened form of a longer middle-name sequence.

Phillips was also his mother's family name: his mother was Sarah Susan Lovecraft, née Phillips. That family connection helps explain why the name appears repeatedly in accounts of Lovecraft's early life and ancestry. His maternal grandfather was Whipple Van Buren Phillips.

Readers sometimes confuse the middle name with Lovecraft's recurring fictional and mythological names, such as Cthulhu, Miskatonic, or Arkham. Those belong to his literary world, while Phillips was part of his legal birth name. Lovecraft later became best known for stories including “The Call of Cthulhu,” “The Colour Out of Space,” and “The Shadow over Innsmouth,” but none of those titles changes the simple biographical answer.