What is J.K. Rowling’s birth date?

J.K. Rowling was born on 31 July 1965. Her birth name was Joanne Rowling, and she was born in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, near Bristol.

Rowling spent part of her childhood in the nearby village of Winterbourne and later moved with her family to Tutshill, on the English side of the River Wye. Her sister Dianne was born about two years after her.

The initials in her pen name are not a direct match for her full birth name. Rowling has no recorded middle name at birth; “K” was added by Bloomsbury for the Harry Potter books and refers to her paternal grandmother, Kathleen.

31 July also became an important date in the fictional Harry Potter universe: Harry Potter’s birthday is given as 31 July. That shared date is a literary detail, not evidence that the character was based directly on Rowling.