JD Vance has changed his name several times. Here’s why

The name JD Vance is currently one of the most well-known names in US politics. However, the Ohio Senator has run through several iterations throughout his lifetime.

Vance was as born James Donald Bowman in in Middletown, Ohio, in 1984, having been given the name of his biological father, Donald Bowman. His mother’s maiden name was Beverly Vance.

His childhood nickname was J.D., which he explained was pronounced “like ‘jay-dot-dee’” in his best-selling 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy.

Vance’s parents officially divorced when he was six years old, which he described as “the saddest I had ever felt,” in his book. He also described a “revolving door of father figures.”

After the divorce, Vance took the name of his mother’s third husband Bob Hamel, and his middle name was changed to David – that of one of his uncles – preserving his childhood nickname JD.

However, Vance did not buy his mother’s story that he was named for his uncle David. “Any old D name would have done, so long as it wasn’t Donald,” he wrote.

Nonetheless, “jay-dot-dee” was now short for James David.

When his mother erased Donald Bowman from his and her lives, the adoption process also erased the name James Donald Bowman from the public record. The only birth certificate for Vance on file at Ohio’s vital statistics office reads James David Hamel, according to information provided by the state, cited by the Associated Press.

He would spend more than two decades as James David “J.D.” Hamel, and served in Iraq as a US Marine – Corporal James D Hamel. But the situation gnawed at him, particularly after his mother and adoptive father divorced.

“I shared a name with no one I really cared about (which bothered me already), and with Bob gone, explaining why my name was