What is JD Vance's real name?

The Republican vice presidential nominee, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, is not the first politician to use initials in their name, following the likes of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Lyndon Baines Johnson and even Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

However, it is less commonly known what the "JD" in JD Vance stands for.

Throughout his life, Vance has been known by three official names: James Donald Bowman, James David Hamel and James David Vance.

Born James Donald Bowman on August 2, 1984, in Middletown, Ohio, Vance shared his middle and last names with his biological father, Donald Ray Bowman.

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Following his parents' divorce, his mother, Beverly, married Robert Hamel and renamed her son James David Hamel around the age of six, according to the Associated Press. He kept the same name throughout high school, his service as a U.S. Marine, undergrad studies at Ohio State and eventually Yale Law School.

In 2013, James David Hamel legally changed his surname to honor his maternal grandmother, Bonnie Blanton Vance, often called "Mamaw." And in 2021, upon entering politics, he removed the periods from his initials, a detail noted in his official U.S. Senate biography, which lists his first name as JD.

Victor Hagan is the Alabama Election Reporting Fellow for the USA TODAY Network. He can be reached at [email protected] or on X @TheVictorHagan. To support his work, subscribe to the Advertiser.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: What does JD stand for in JD Vance?