Some of America’s most famous figures were not born with the names we know them by. Bill Clinton was originally William Jefferson Blythe III, John Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison, and Martin Luther King Jr. started life as Michael King Jr. until he was five. The change came about because of his father, Reverend Michael King.

Martin Luther King, Jr. at the age of six.
Civil Rights Activist. Photo Credit: Christine King Farri (Special to the AJC)
In 1934, Reverend King Sr. attended the Fifth Baptist World Congress in Berlin, where the organization issued a strong condemnation of Nazism and racial discrimination. During his time in Germany, King Sr. traveled extensively and became deeply inspired by Martin Luther, the German theologian who initiated the Protestant Reformation. Born in Eisleben in 1483, Luther famously challenged the Catholic Church by nailing his Ninety-five Theses to a church door in 1517.
Moved by Luther’s legacy, Reverend King decided to change his name and his son’s name to honor the reformer. However, Martin Luther King Jr.’s birth certificate wasn’t officially updated to reflect the change until July 23, 1957, when he was 28 years old.