Leslie, Thelma, and Hiram
This collection of People We Know By Names Other Than Those They Were Born With is incomplete; I’ll add to it as I discover more.
Before you scroll any further, click to see if you know who these presidents are first ladies are:
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Gerald Ford
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First Lady Pat Nixon
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Hiram Ulysses Grant = Ulysses S. Grant
FIRST LADIES
Nellie Taft was born Helen Herron.
Eleanor Roosevelt was born Anna Eleanor Roosevelt. She didn’t need to change her last name when she married, but she dropped her first name (her mom’s name) along the way.
Better known as Pat Nixon, Thelma Catherine Ryan was born the day before St. Patrick’s day. Her father called her his “St. Patrick’s Babe” and that was that.
Claudia Alta Taylor became Lady Bird Johnson. The woman who raised her thought that Claudia was too heavy a name for her. (Lady Bird is another name for ladybug.)
Anne Frances Robbins became Nancy Davis after her mom married her stepdad. After marrying Ronnie, of course, she became Nancy Reagan.
(Coincidentally, Reagan’s first wife Jane Wyman was actually born Sarah Jane Mayfield.)
These first ladies are color-coded: FIRST LADY / WIDOWED IN OFFICE / DIVORCED BEFORE PRESIDENCY
Find more first ladies here.
PRESIDENTS
Ulysses S. Grant was born Hiram Ulysses Grant
(his VP was also known by a different name!)Grover Cleveland was born Steven Grover Cleveland
Woodrow Wilson was born Thomas Woodrow Wilson and went by Tommy until his 20s
Calvin Coolidge dropped his first name and the Jr. (he was born John Calvin Coolidge, Jr.)
Dwight D. Eisenhower was born David Dwight Eisenhower, which makes me suspicious of him renaming “Shangri-La” “Camp David” after his grandson. Suuuuuurrreeee…
(FUN FACT: that grandson married Richard Nixon’s daughter)Gerald Ford was named after his abusive father — Leslie L. King (at his father’s insistence).
Starting on their honeymoon, the elder King violently beat his wife, Dorothy.
He was manipulative, telling Dorothy they’d live in a cottage for two. Instead, they were to live in a 14 bedroom mansion with his parents.
Immediately after the future president was born, he resumed the abuse… berating Dorothy and threatening her and her mother with a butcher knife and threatening to shoot Dorothy.
Her bravery was incredible — less than 11 months into their marriage, she bundled up her 16-day-old baby and escaped.
She filed for divorce. The court found him guilty of “extreme cruelty” and ordered him to pay child support. He declared “I am going to drink up every dollar I can get.”
The baby went from Leslie L. King, Jr. → Junie → Junie Ford (when Dorothy remarried) → Jerry Ford → Gerald R. Ford, Jr. (even though he was never formally adopted). → At 21 years old, he officially changed his name to Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr.
William Jefferson Clinton’s original last name was Blythe. His father tragically died before he was born; his mother remarried.
These guys are color-coded by party.
Time and Chance: Gerald Ford’s Appointment with History, by James Cannon
VICE PRESIDENTS
Henry Wilson was born Jeremiah Jones Colbath. He changed his name after he was freed from being indentured.
A collection of other collections to explore:
People We Know By Names Other Than Those They Were Born With