List of Presidents of the United States by name

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This is a list of Presidents of the United States by name:

Contents

Name origins [edit]

# President Name origin
44 Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. Named after his father, Barack Hussein Obama, Sr.
43 George Walker Bush Named after his father, Former President George Herbert Walker Bush
42 William Jefferson Clinton Originally named William Jefferson Blythe III, after his biological father, William Jefferson Blythe, Jr., a businessman, who died in an accident three months before his birth, and his biological grandfather, William Jefferson Blythe, Sr., a farmer, who died of age-related causes 11 years before his birth, he took the surname 'Clinton' when his mother remarried Roger Clinton, Sr.. He was the third posthumously born U.S. President, after Andrew Jackson and Rutherford B. Hayes
41 George Herbert Walker Bush Named after his maternal grandfather, George Herbert Walker
40 Ronald Wilson Reagan Wilson was his mother’s maiden name
39 James Earl Carter, Jr. Named after his father, James Earl Carter, Sr.
38 Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. Originally named after his biological father, Leslie Lynch King, Sr. and renamed at the age of two by his adopted father Gerald Rudolff Ford.
37 Richard Milhous Nixon Named after Richard the Lionheart; Milhous was his mother’s maiden name
36 Lyndon Baines Johnson Named after W.C. Linden, a lawyer and family friend, Baines was his mother’s maiden name
35 John Fitzgerald Kennedy Named after his maternal grandfather, John F. “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald
34 Dwight David Eisenhower Originally named David Dwight Eisenhower after his father, David Jacob Eisenhower
33 Harry S. Truman Named after his maternal uncle, Harrison Young; the middle initial represents both "Shippe", after his paternal grandfather, Anderson Shippe Truman; and "Solomon", after his maternal grandfather, Solomon Young. It is generally accepted that the exact name which is abbreviated is undetermined, so that in effect the 'S' stood for nothing but S. Truman's "full name" could be regarded as "Harry S Truman" (without the period), but he did not sign his name that way. Examination of official papers at the Truman Presidential Library reveal that the S. is generally written with a period.
32 Franklin Delano Roosevelt After being nameless for seven weeks, he was named after his great-uncle, Franklin Hughes Delano
31 Herbert Clark Hoover Clark was his father’s middle name
30 Calvin Coolidge Originally named John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. after his father
29 Warren Gamaliel Harding Named after his great-uncle, Rev. Warren Gamaliel Bancroft
28 Woodrow Wilson Originally named Thomas Woodrow Wilson after his maternal grandfather, Rev. Thomas Woodrow
27 William Howard Taft Howard was the last name of his paternal grandmother, Sylvia Howard
26 Theodore Roosevelt Originally named Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. after his father
25 William McKinley Originally named William McKinley, Jr. after his father
23 Benjamin Harrison While he was the eighth Benjamin Harrison in his family, he was primarily named after his paternal uncle, Dr. Benjamin Harrison VII, and his paternal great-grandfather Benjamin Harrison V
22/24 Grover Cleveland Originally named Stephen Grover Cleveland after Rev. Stephen Grover
21 Chester Alan Arthur Named after Dr. Chester Abell, the physician who delivered him, and his paternal grandfather, Alan Arthur
20 James Abram Garfield Named after his deceased infant brother, James, and his father Abram Garfield
19 Rutherford Birchard Hayes Named after his father, Rutherford Hayes, Sr. Birchard was his mother’s maiden name
18 Ulysses Simpson Grant About a month after birth, he was originally named Hiram Ulysses Grant, Hiram was his maternal grandfather and Ulysses a Greek hero from mythology. He informally went by his middle name. When enrolling at West Point, congressional sponsor accidentally wrote his name as Ulysses Simpson Grant; Simpson was his mother’s maiden name. The school would not allow Grant to enroll by any other name than that which his sponsor had filled out, so Grant went along with the change. Furthermore, Grant was pleased with the change because he had disliked the fact that his original initials spelled "HUG."
17 Andrew Johnson Either named after Andrew Jackson or a maternal uncle
16 Abraham Lincoln Named after his paternal grandfather, Abraham Lincoln, Sr.
15 James Buchanan Named after his father, James Buchanan, Sr.
14 Franklin Pierce Unknown
13 Millard Fillmore Millard was his mother’s maiden name
12 Zachary Taylor Named after his paternal grandfather, Zachary Taylor, Sr.
11 James Knox Polk Named after his maternal grandfather, James Knox
10 John Tyler Named after his father, John Tyler, Sr.
9 William Henry Harrison Named after his maternal grandfather, William Bassett and paternal uncle, Henry Harrison
8 Martin Van Buren Named after his paternal grandfather, Martin Van Buren, Sr.
7 Andrew Jackson Named after his father, Andrew Jackson, Sr., who died in an accident three weeks before his birth
6 John Quincy Adams Named after his maternal great-grandfather, John Quincy, after whom Quincy, Massachusetts, is also named, his father former President John Adams, Jr. and grandfather John Adams, Sr.
5 James Monroe Named after his maternal grandfather, James Jones
4 James Madison Named after his father, James Madison, Sr.
3 Thomas Jefferson Named after his paternal grandfather, Thomas Jefferson II
2 John Adams Named after his father, John Adams, Sr.
1 George Washington Possibly named after George Eskridge, a lawyer who took care of Washington's mother after she was orphaned

Presidents popularly known by middle names or nicknames [edit]

Acronyms [edit]

Only one president's original full name, Hiram Ulysses Grant, forms an English word ("hug"). After a clerical error at West Point entered his name wrongly as Ulysses Simpson Grant, and since he disliked the acronym, Grant went along with the change.

Duplicates and multiple first names [edit]

There have been:

Length of first names [edit]

  • Rutherford is the longest Presidential first name at 10 letters.
  • John and Bill are the shortest Presidential first names at four letters.
  • The average length in letters of commonly used presidential first names is 6.14 letters.

Middle names [edit]

  • Three Presidents used their middle name as their given name:
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. went by Calvin
Stephen Grover Cleveland went by Grover
Thomas Woodrow Wilson went by Woodrow
  • Seventeen of the 43 presidents to date have no known middle name.
  • Franklin Pierce is sometimes referred to as Franklin K. Pierce:[1][2] the 'K' possibly standing for his mother's maiden name of Kendrick. However, there is no evidence that Pierce was given a middle name at birth or ever used a middle name or middle initial.
  • Several Presidential middle names were originally surnames: Baines, Birchard, Delano, Fitzgerald, Walker, Knox, Milhous, Quincy, and Simpson, et al. Most of these were the President's mother's maiden name.
  • Gerald Rudolph Ford was born Leslie Lynch King, Jr. therefore giving him the middle name of Lynch before his mother remarried when he was three years old; his name was not legally changed until 1935 while in law school.
  • Ulysses S. Grant was born Hiram Ulysses Grant. His name was wrongly entered as Ulysses S. Grant when he entered the United States Military Academy.
  • Harry S. Truman's middle name was only an initial; the "S" didn't stand for another name. Nevertheless he signed his name using the period after the letter.
  • George Herbert Walker Bush is the only President with two middle names.
  • There are no duplicate Presidential middle names, with the partial exception of Herbert Walker and Walker.
  • Two Presidents have middle names which are also Presidential last names: Ronald Wilson Reagan and William Jefferson Clinton.

Last names [edit]

  • There have been two Adamses, two Bushes, two Harrisons, two Johnsons, and two Roosevelts. All of the pairs except the Johnsons were related to each other.
  • Thirty-three of the Presidents have had unique last names.
  • Eisenhower and Washington had the longest last names, with 10 letters each.
  • Twelve Presidents have last names of three syllables: Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Van Buren, both Harrisons, Buchanan, McKinley, both Roosevelts, Kennedy and Obama.
  • Eisenhower is the only President whose last name is four syllables long.
  • The Bushes, Taft, Polk, and Ford had the shortest last names, with four letters each and only one syllable each. Three other Presidents have longer last names that are still only one syllable: Pierce, Grant and Hayes for a total of seven single syllable last names.
  • The remaining Presidents (so far) have names of two syllables regardless of length
  • The average Presidential last name has 6.64 letters.
  • The only two-word last name is Van Buren. Van is a surname prefix common to people of Dutch or Belgian ancestry.
  • Obama is the only President whose last name has more pronounced vowels than its total number of consonants.
  • Only three of the ten most common surnames (Smith, Johnson, Williams, Jones, Brown, Davis, Miller, Wilson, Moore, and Taylor) in the United States have been the surnames of Presidents (Johnson, Andrew and Lyndon; Wilson, Woodrow; and Taylor, Zachary).

Last name suffixes [edit]

Twelve presidents were complete namesakes of their fathers':

  1. John Adams, Jr.
  2. James Madison, Jr.
  3. Andrew Jackson (it is unknown if he ever went by "Jr.")[3]
  4. John Tyler, Jr.
  5. James Buchanan, Jr.
  6. William McKinley, Jr.
  7. Theodore Roosevelt, born Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.
  8. John Calvin Coolidge, Jr.
  9. Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr., born Leslie Lynch King, Jr. Ford was the complete namesake of both his biological father and his stepfather (though his stepfather's middle name was spelled differently).
  10. James Earl Carter, Jr.
  11. Bill Clinton, born William Jefferson Blythe III
  12. Barack Hussein Obama II

George Walker Bush does not share exactly the same name of his father, George Herbert Walker Bush, nor does John Quincy Adams share his exact name with his father John Adams. This has not, however, deterred the press from referring to George W. Bush as "George Bush, Jr."

Sources [edit]

DeGregario, William A. The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents. Barricade Books, 1991.

References [edit]

  1. ^ Indiana Supreme Court Justice Biographies: Justice Alvin Peterson Hovey
  2. ^ DAVIS, John Givan (1810-1866) Guide to Research Papers
  3. ^ Andrew Jackson

See also [edit]
Presidential lists
Professional careers
Personal life
Vice presidential lists
Succession
Elections
Candidates
Families
In fiction
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