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Presidential Middle Names

Only 28 U.S. Presidents have had middle names. Can you name those names?
"Dubya" is not an acceptable answer
Quiz by kalbahamut
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Last updated: December 6, 2021
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First submittedApril 18, 2013
Times taken45,529
Average score44.4%
Rating4.34
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First
Middle
Last
John
Quincy
Adams
William
Henry
Harrison
James
Knox
Polk
Hiram
Ulysses
Grant
Rutherford
Birchard
Hayes
James
Abram
Garfield
Chester
Alan
Arthur
Stephen
Grover
Cleveland
William
Howard
Taft
Thomas
Woodrow
Wilson
Warren
Gamaliel
Harding
John
Calvin
Coolidge
Herbert
Clark
Hoover
Franklin
Delano
Roosevelt
First
Middle
Last
Harry
S.
Truman
Dwight
David
Eisenhower
John
Fitzgerald
Kennedy
Lyndon
Baines
Johnson
Richard
Milhous
Nixon
Gerald
Rudolph
Ford
James
Earl
Carter
Ronald
Wilson
Reagan
George
Herbert Walker
Bush
William
Jefferson
Clinton
George
Walker
Bush
Barack
Hussein
Obama
Donald
John
Trump
Joseph
Robinette
Biden
+13
Level 82
Apr 25, 2013
I think it's fair to say you see even fewer "S"s running around.... I wonder how many people would have gotten Harry Truman's middle name if it didn't just automatically accept it after you typed in the first letter.
+3
Level 68
Mar 24, 2023
That was one of the few I actually knew!
+4
Level 82
Jun 15, 2013
Thanks everyone for taking the quiz. If you enjoyed it, maybe you would also enjoy some of these:

Movie Title Antonyms

Pork Eschewing Countries

Common Surnames #2

Which Facebook likes make you look smart?

International Acronyms

Very Tricky Analogies

If you didn't enjoy it, then, sorry :( ... maybe try this one instead

Countries of the World

+6
Level 72
Mar 19, 2018
Because of course, anybody who enjoys quizzes about US presidents is bound to also like quizzes about pork consumption or Facebook likes.
+2
Level 82
Mar 20, 2018
Washington loves pork.

and I think I made a Facebook likes quiz about political orientation, maybe I should have linked to that one instead.

+8
Level 77
Jul 18, 2013
Harry Truman's middle name is an interesting one. Both of his grandfathers had first names that began with 'S' so instead of just picking one, his parents decided to just use the first letter of BOTH of his grandfathers' names and give him the middle name 'S.' Technically, since that is his entire middle name, there should be no period after it, but because that is how Truman signed his name as president, that is the way it has always been written.
+1
Level 82
Jul 18, 2013
yep. Though, writing it the way Harry did, you could say that it stood for either of his grandfathers' names.
+2
Level 75
May 1, 2020
It's not that uncommon in my rural area of Missouri - also Harry Truman's state. My late father-in-law's middle name was C. He was a twin and his brother's middle name was Lee and they wanted it to rhyme, but it was in honor of the doctor who delivered them, Dr. Churchill. Another brother was named A J, in honor of both of his grandfathers, Allen and Jackson.
+5
Level 40
Oct 30, 2013
Dubya is not an acceptable answer. Good laugh.
+1
Level 82
Oct 30, 2013
:) I added it when QuizMaster chose a picture of Bush to go with the quiz. He said it was because Bush is the president most associated with his middle name, though I don't agree with that and the results of the quiz I think disprove it, too. Bush comes in 4th place in the most-guessed answers, even given the bump that usually comes with being featured in the picture at the top.
+1
Level 76
Apr 28, 2016
He'd be top if you allowed Dubya as a type-in
+1
Level 72
Nov 28, 2019
I hear dubya all the time but it still took me a minute to remember what his actual middle name was. That's actually true for a few presidents who's middle initial I knew but couldn't think of what it stood for, like Warren G. Harding.
+1
Level 37
Jun 15, 2014
24% for Reagan's middle name?!? It seems to me like he wasn't THAT long ago.
+4
Level 82
Jun 15, 2014
He wasn't, but his middle name was just never very famous. Obama's became so because it was used extensively by his political opponents to try and get people to associate him with Muslims and the Iraqi leader, Bush's was as a way to differentiate him from his father. Same for Adams. Some of these other guys that get guessed a lot are just known for having three names... JFK, FDR, LBJ... they're all from before Reagan's time but much more guessed. Nobody ever used Reagan's middle name.
+2
Level 84
Jul 31, 2015
Great quiz! Got them all, though I tried a bunch of guesses for Ford in the final seconds (I knew the initial was R, which helped immensely). Regarding Reagan's middle name, I remember when he was elected, there was a small contingent of doomsday conspiracy theorists who pointed out that his first, middle, and last names all contained 6 letters, so of course he must be the Antichrist! Crazy, but it helped me remember the name!
+3
Level 37
Jan 23, 2018
I'm surprised that many got him at all. Despite all the posthumous hype, he didn't impress me much as either an actor or a president.
+1
Level 44
Feb 21, 2018
I put in Saint for Ronnie's middle name, because TBH I had no idea. lol
+1
Level 67
Mar 27, 2023
...And you thought he might be a saint?!?
+2
Level 32
Aug 8, 2014
5/26
+1
Level 36
Aug 27, 2014
Again, brilliant. I love your quizzes.
+1
Level 82
Aug 28, 2014
Thanks! Happy to hear it.
+2
Level 17
Dec 24, 2014
I wonder why several presidents went by their middle names.?
+1
Level 82
Dec 24, 2014
I go by my middle name because my parents never called me by either of my first names.
+3
Level 60
Apr 28, 2016
Baha.
+1
Level 82
Nov 10, 2016
What? I'm serious. I have two first names.
+2
Level 51
Feb 23, 2018
Wouldn't that be a first and a middle name?
+2
Level 82
Feb 23, 2018
No. I also have a middle name. On my birth certificate in the space for "first name" or "given name" or whatever it says... there are two names filled in. Then under "middle name" there is a different name there.
+2
Level 75
May 1, 2020
One of my aunts had three names. My grandmother wanted to name her after her two best friends, but didn't want to show preference for either by calling her one name over the other, so she gave her a third name as her "user name".
+1
Level 67
Feb 5, 2018
Because they were cool
+1
Level 55
Sep 9, 2015
Seriously, is it like a requirement that presidential candidates have either no middle name (how common is that really?) or have a extremely rare, strange, last-name-as-, or made-up middle name? I would think that sheer statistics alone would dictate that ONE of them have the middle name "John"!
+1
Level 82
Sep 10, 2015
As I said above, Americans have a long, proud history of awkward middle names.
+1
Level 55
Jan 25, 2016
Right, I mean, as the quiz well tells us! I suppose I'm not in any place to speak, since my middle name is uncommon, and my grandfather's, father's, and brother's shared middle name was literally made up by that side of the family to sound classy. Or something. I'm not sure what they were thinking.
+1
Level 28
Nov 7, 2016
'David' is a fairly normal name.
+8
Level 91
Nov 9, 2016
You got your wish for a "John"!!!
+8
Level 82
Dec 19, 2017
careful what you wish for
+3
Level 66
Sep 24, 2019
Ah so hé is to blame. Some genie made it come true..
+7
Level 76
Oct 6, 2020
Goddamn but that's the worst monkey's paw wish I've ever seen.
+2
Level 74
May 6, 2017
Many of those "strange" middle names are family surnames on the mother's side used as an honor to her side of the family. I would say it is interesting how many people who use family surnames end up as Presidents.
+1
Level 75
May 1, 2020
My father didn't but nice try, Grandma.
+1
Level 43
Jan 3, 2016
"Dubya" is not an acceptable answer.

:')

+5
Level 78
Apr 28, 2016
As Dick Cavett once discovered, Reagan's full name is an anagram of Insane Anglo Warlord. Just an observation.
+5
Level 64
Apr 28, 2016
So many I know the INITIAL of
+2
Level 82
Apr 28, 2016
oh.. hey. Didn't realize this was going to get re-featured today. I wanted to make some changes to it... possibly address the US Grant controversy somehow. But I was planning to just update it after November so I could add in Diane. Haven't decided yet if I'll also accept Rodham.
+3
Level 82
Nov 10, 2016
Unfortunately I never had to decide between Diane and Rodham but I did try to address the Grant controversy. Happy election day, 'murica.
+1
Level 60
Apr 28, 2016
I wonder if this will be updated once the new president is announced Rodham or John?
+2
Level 86
Apr 28, 2016
I've always heard that Harry Truman did not put a period after his middle initial because it didn't stand for anything. He had two grandfathers with the initial S and his parents didn't want to choose one over the other, so they just gave him the initial. I love trivia like that.
+2
Level 38
Apr 28, 2016
typed Dubya as a joke right off the bat, and then read the rules. Haha!
+1
Level 75
Apr 28, 2016
I tried Allen for Chester Arthur, and when that wasn't accepted I decided my memory was faulty - should have thought about the alternate spelling. Great quiz, although it was harder than I anticipated.
+1
Level 75
Jan 7, 2017
Thanks for changing it so it was accepted today. Loved the quiz.
+1
Level 79
Apr 28, 2016
Nice quiz. 17% knowing Gamaliel is pretty damn impressive.
+1
Level 74
Apr 28, 2016
Indeed; I gave up after Gordon, George, Geoffrey, Gerard, Gerald, even Gideon ... there's a fair few more between these and Gamaliel
+1
Level 66
Apr 28, 2016
I started this, then I realized I only knew the middle initial of most of them.
+1
Level 12
Apr 30, 2016
it is a tricky quiz i say!
+1
Level 29
May 1, 2016
Can you PLEASE make "Dubya" an acceptable answer? PLEASE????
+1
Level 65
May 17, 2016
One of my favorite quizzes: ✓
+1
Level 28
Jun 13, 2016
I said 'Allen' when it was 'Alan'. I just guessed common names on the ones that I didn't know, which failed miserably on pretty much everybody except for Eisenhower.
+1
Level 82
Jun 13, 2016
Added "Allen" as a type-in. I'll resumbit it after the election.
+1
Level 28
Apr 4, 2017
Thank you
+1
Level 68
Nov 12, 2016
Well that was one of the hardest quizzes I have ever done on Jetpunk. Fortunately useless too. I quite enjoyed it though!
+2
Level 75
Nov 12, 2016
I do genealogy as a hobby, and it's amazing how many males I found on census records with the initials JKP. It took me a while to realize they were named for James Knox Polk. Military heroes were the superstars of their day. The other frequently seen initials which threw me for a while were MDL, (Marquis de Lafayette), FM (Francis Marion - the Swamp Fox of the Revolution) and LD (Lorenzo Dow), a prominent evangelist of the early 1800s.
+1
Level 29
Nov 12, 2016
If you want a hint on Richard Nixon's middle name, think of a Simpsons character with blue hair
+7
Level 89
May 1, 2020
Marge?
+1
Level 18
Jan 7, 2017
You are so challenging at making quizzes! Keep up the good work and I hope that you make more quizzes soon.
+1
Level 51
Mar 1, 2017
Of all the people to be edging out FDR, I wouldn't think Obama would be up there.
+1
Level 44
Mar 3, 2017
Why is Harry Truman's box highlighted grey? Did he have a middle name?
+2
Level 82
Mar 3, 2017
He did. His middle names was "S."
+1
Level 68
May 11, 2017
Oops, thought they meant the first John Adams. Other than that only missed Hoover and Garfield. Not good enough for 5 points unfortunately :/
+1
Level 82
May 12, 2017
Of the two John Adams who were president only one had a middle name, so, process of elimination...
+2
Level 74
Jan 31, 2018
The results of this quiz are crazy. I got all the ones must frequently guessed (49% and above), and then there is a big drop off to 28% and below, none of which I got. I guess that goes to show which presidents are known for their middle name and which are not. I knew most of the initials of the ones I didn't get (Chester A., James K., Warren G., James A., Rutherford B., Gerald R., etc.) but had no idea what those initials stood for.
+1
Level 67
Feb 5, 2018
Excellent quiz; great job!!!
+1
Level 82
Feb 23, 2018
thanks
+1
Level 37
Mar 3, 2018
It gives me no pleasure to disagree with you as your comments can be and often are very informative. It's just that some of them are beyond the pale, and I firmly believe in a lively debate. We can disagree with-out being disagreeable.
+2
Level 82
Mar 3, 2018
you've been nasty to me without good reason ever since you started responding, over and over and over again, to everything I say here. I don't know why; I suspect it has to do with you finding out I don't believe in the same god you do and taking it personally.
+1
Level 41
Jun 16, 2018
I tried “Banes” and also “Bains” for Johnson. I think it’s reasonable to accept spellings that are close.
+3
Level 43
Jul 26, 2019
I think it's reasonable for you to learn how to spell
+1
Level 88
Jul 1, 2018
"Dubya is not an acceptable answer."

You know that eliminated some people from getting a correct answer.

+1
Level 43
Jul 26, 2019
How did I miss Milhous
+2
Level 86
May 1, 2020
I knew them all, don't know how. If I could free up the space in my brain that all of this knowledge is using, just think what I could accomplish. At least it allows me to accomplish things on Jetpunk.
+1
Level 74
May 1, 2020
I find it very fascinating that Truman's "S" stands for two names and is in essence not an initial, but the name itself. Ergo Truman's whole name is Harry S Truman, wherein S is his middle name. I would like if you would make it an answer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman#Early_life,_family,_and_education
+1
Level 82
May 1, 2020
It's filled in. It used to not be but I saw no point in not giving it as a freebie since his entire middle name is just the initial.
+1
Level 68
May 5, 2020
I'm having trouble believing that Birchard is a real name.
+2
Level 76
Oct 6, 2020
As with a lot of these odd middle names, Birchard was his mother's family name
+1
Level 85
Jan 23, 2021
But you're fine with Rutherford.
+1
Level 51
May 29, 2020
Only 19% guessed Knox?
+2
Level 92
Jan 20, 2021
Another unusual middle name. But maybe not in the history of presidential middle names since once again it is apparently based on a family connection.
+3
Level 72
Jan 21, 2021
It's funny how in some cases, I can't think of the president's name WITHOUT at least the middle initial, like Rutherford B. Hayes, while in other cases, I never even knew there WAS a middle name or initial, as in Herbert Hoover.
+1
Level 79
Jan 25, 2021
I got 19/27, including all on the right column except David and Rudolph
+2
Level 54
Jun 28, 2021
Robinette? Even his middle name is stupid.
+1
Level 82
Jun 28, 2021
Based on available data, it seems like the quality of US presidents may be inversely proportional to how "normal" their middle names are. Though Eisenhower seems to be an outlier.
+1
Level 82
Jun 28, 2021
and Harding would be an outlier on the other end of that spectrum. "John" and "Hussein" match up perfectly, though! Robinette seems to be tracking, as well.
+1
Level 88
Oct 7, 2021
Biden was named before the Johnny Cash song warned parents of such consequences.
+1
Level 76
Dec 6, 2021
please allow robinet as an alternative spelling? i've only ever heard it said and i assumed it would be the same as the french word
+1
Level 82
Dec 6, 2021
pending approval, okay.
+2
Level 82
Dec 6, 2021
I know so many of their first initials, and I was trying to guess common names for their middle names, but I would have never in a million years guessed Birchard or Gamaliel
+2
Level 78
Nov 28, 2022
James Knox Polk is a really cool name
+1
Level 82
Nov 28, 2022
The CEO of the hospital system I and much of my family used to work for was a Knox Singleton. Only other time I heard that name apart from that one minor character in Tim Burton's Batman.
+1
Level 48
Mar 23, 2023
There's now an extant chance that we could get another president with the middle name Gamaliel. Wild times.
+1
Level 76
Mar 24, 2023
Ha! That would be really funny, if the answer to the trivia question "What is the most common Presidential middle name?" ended up being freaking Gamaliel.
+2
Level 64
Mar 24, 2023
The quiz is hard, but very cool.

Can't believe, I missed "Woodrow"...

+1
Level 37
Aug 6, 2023
i have fond memories of learning all the presidents (up through dubya) in a leappad preview book... the u.s. history section was my favorite, and it's how i learned most of the contemporary presidents' middle names. couldn't ever tell you what the "b" in rutherford b. hayes stood for, though.