‘J’ is Oppenheimer’s Actual First Name (maybe)
J Robert Oppenheimer was born on April 22, 1904. Notice the lack of a period before the J. That J represents Oppenheimer’s very first controversy – the enigma of his actual first name. His father’s name is Julius. Oppenheimer’s birth certificate lists it has his first name, too. But his family intended him to answer to his middle name, Robert. The United States War Department used “Julius” as his first name when they granted him security clearance.
But in 1946, Oppenheimer said of his first name, writing to the U.S. Patent Office, “This is to certify that I have no first name other than the letter J, and that my full and correct name is J Robert Oppenheimer.” Naming Oppenheimer “Julius” would be against Jewish tradition to avoid naming someone after a living relative, but his family wasn’t particularly observant. But most people called him “Oppie,” something the movie got right.
