J.K. Rowling’s first name is Joanne.
Rowling was born Joanne Rowling on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England. She has explained that the “K” in her publishing name stands for Kathleen, her paternal grandmother’s name, although Kathleen was not part of her birth name. The initials were used partly because her publisher believed that a gender-neutral author name might appeal broadly to readers.
The author is widely known as J.K. Rowling, but she has also published under the name Robert Galbraith for her crime novels. In ordinary biographies, “Joanne” is sometimes shortened informally to “Jo,” but Joanne is the name recorded in reliable biographical sources. Rowling’s best-known work is the seven-book Harry Potter series, which began with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in 1997.