Edgar Allan Poe’s original birth name was Edgar Poe. He was born in Boston on January 19, 1809, to actors David Poe Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold Poe.
After Poe’s father abandoned the family and his mother died in 1811, the two-year-old Edgar was taken into the Richmond, Virginia, home of John and Frances Allan. The Allans acted as his foster family and gave him the middle name Allan, creating the name by which he became famous: Edgar Allan Poe. They never formally adopted him, so “Edgar Poe” remains the standard birth name.
The name is sometimes confused with “Edgar Allen Poe,” but “Allan” is the correct spelling. “Edgar Poe Jr.” is also incorrect: his father was David Poe Jr., while Edgar himself was not conventionally styled “Jr.” Poe later used other names, including “Edgar A. Perry” when he enlisted in the army, but those were aliases rather than birth names.