What is the real name of the author who wrote Harry Potter under the name J.K. Rowling?

The real name of the author known as J.K. Rowling is Joanne Rowling.

She was born Joanne Rowling on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England. The “K” in her professional name does not represent a birth middle name. Her publisher requested a second initial before the first Harry Potter book appeared, and Rowling chose “Kathleen,” the name of her paternal grandmother.

Rowling has generally been known publicly as J.K. Rowling since the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. She has also published adult fiction under the name Robert Galbraith, especially the Cormoran Strike crime novels.

The initials helped make the author’s identity less immediately obvious to some readers, while also creating a distinctive author brand. In later books and biographies, her full name is commonly given as Joanne Rowling or Joanne Kathleen Rowling.