What official documents confirm Michelle Obama's birthplace and birth name?
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Executive summary
Official, contemporaneous records and authoritative institutional biographies identify Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama as born January 17, 1964, in Chicago, Illinois; the Obama White House archives and multiple biographical repositories list her birth name as Michelle LaVaughn Robinson [1] [2]. Independent encyclopedias and archival pages used in reporting — including the Barack Obama Presidential Library and Britannica — repeat the same facts [1] [2].
1. What the government-hosted records say — the Obama White House and Presidential Library
The Obama White House’s archived biography of Michelle Obama states her full name and Chicago birthplace and gives January 17, 1964 as her birth date; that same archive contains files and public materials released while Barack Obama was president that corroborate her biography [1] [3]. The Barack Obama Presidential Library’s First Lady page likewise presents Michelle Robinson Obama’s birthplace as DeYoung/Chicago, Illinois and repeats the January 17, 1964 birth date [1].
2. Public biographies and reference works that function as secondary confirmation
Major reference outlets — Encyclopaedia Britannica and Biography.com — list Michelle’s birth name as Michelle LaVaughn Robinson and her birthplace as Chicago, with the same birth date that government-hosted pages report [2] [4]. These sources are standard go‑to references for journalists and scholars and reflect public-record facts found in the presidential archive and library materials [1] [2].
3. Primary documents publicly associated with the Obamas — what’s available and what’s not
The White House archive hosts documents and media about the first family; separate downloadable PDF materials in the Obama archives include official items that were made public during the presidency (for example, files labeled birth-certificate.pdf and birth-certificate-long-form.pdf appear in the Obama archive listings) [3] [5]. Available sources do not mention whether a state-certified Chicago birth-certificate image for Michelle Obama is posted in those PDFs; reporting instead relies on official biographies and archival summaries to establish birthplace and birth name [3] [5].
4. What journalists and fact-checkers have covered about “birth certificate” controversies
Decade-long public disputes around presidential birth records have centered mainly on Barack Obama; fact-checkers and news organizations have repeatedly debunked claims alleging forged presidential birth documents and have cataloged official releases and verification by states [6] [7]. Those public efforts to document and debunk conspiracies focused on Barack Obama’s Hawaii records rather than Michelle Obama’s Chicago birth, and fact-check organizations have explicitly corrected viral misinformation about Michelle’s name and origins [6] [8].
5. Common misinformation and how authoritative sources respond
Viral claims have circulated asserting alternate names or origins for Michelle — including baseless claims that she was “born Michael.” Fact-checkers like PolitiFact have labeled those claims false and shown they contradict established records stating her birth name as Michelle LaVaughn Robinson and birth date/place as January 17, 1964, Chicago [8]. The pattern in the record: primary institutional biographies and archival files set the facts; independent debunkers trace and correct false narratives [1] [8].
6. Limitations in the public record and where questions persist
Official biographies and archival pages are authoritative but are secondary summaries of vital records; the specific scanned Illinois state birth certificate for Michelle Obama is not cited explicitly in the provided search results as posted publicly in the same way Barack Obama’s Hawaii long-form certificate was widely circulated and scrutinized [3] [5]. Available sources do not mention a public, state-certified Chicago birth-certificate image for Michelle Obama in these search results; researchers and journalists rely on institutional biographies and library archives to confirm her birth name and birthplace [1] [2].
7. Bottom line for someone seeking documentary proof
If you want named documentary proof cited in mainstream reporting, consult the Obama White House archive and the Barack Obama Presidential Library biographies, which list Michelle LaVaughn Robinson as her birth name and Chicago, Illinois as her birthplace with date January 17, 1964 [1] [2]. If you need a certified state birth-certificate scan or certified copy, available sources do not mention a public posting of such a Chicago birth-certificate image in these search results and you would need to request records through the appropriate Illinois or Cook County vital‑records channels — that procedural route is not covered in the current reporting [3] [5].