What was J.K. Rowling’s birth name before she adopted the initial-based author name?

J.K. Rowling’s birth name was Joanne Rowling.

She was born Joanne Rowling on 31 July 1965 at Yate General Hospital near Bristol, England, and grew up in Gloucestershire. The initial “K” was not part of her birth name. Her publishers suggested using an additional initial because they believed some boys might avoid books written by a woman.

Rowling chose “K” in honor of her paternal grandmother, Kathleen. She has never used “Katherine” as her own middle name, although that version is sometimes incorrectly repeated. Her author name therefore combines her real first name’s initial with a family-inspired second initial.

The name became internationally famous when Bloomsbury published Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in 1997. Rowling later published crime novels under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, keeping that identity separate from her best-known author name.