It’s been quite the year for JD Vance and his wife, Usha. The best-selling author and previous venture capitalist went from the Senate to the White House when he was sworn in as the Vice President of the US in January. But while JD Vance now lives a very public life, that’s not the case regarding his children.
He and Usha Vance have three children, but over the years, they’ve done their best to respect their privacy. The couple has decided to keep their children out of the spotlight, but recently JD Vance and his wife made some rare comments about their brood. Reportedly, the kids have a lot of fun with their father’s codename, given to him by the Secret Service.
JD and Usha Vance’s love story began during their university days at Yale Law School in the early 2010s. Born in 1986, Usha hails from a well-educated family and grew up in San Diego. Her parents are Indian immigrants; her father, Krish, worked as an aerospace engineer and university lecturer, while her mother, Lakshmi, was a professor of molecular biology.
JD and Usha shared a reading group and social circle, and initially, they were just friends. But things developed into something more, and according to Vance, Usha was more than just a girlfriend and a best friend. He has previously described her as his “spirit guide” at Yale.
“She instinctively understood the questions I didn’t even know to ask and she always encouraged me to seek opportunities that I didn’t know existed,” he said in 2020.
“I’m one of those guys who really benefits from having sort of a powerful female voice over his left shoulder saying, ‘Don’t do that, do that’.”
JD Vance & Usha Vance
Their classmate at Yale, Charles Tyler, spoke to the BBC, saying that “they were always this match of very dissimilar people.” In his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, Vance stated that he had “never felt out of place” in his entire life, though “did at Yale.”
As a result, Usha became even more crucial for his development and pursuit of a degree. Usha graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University. She was also a Gates Scholar at Cambridge University, earning a Master of Philosophy in early modern history.
A year after graduating, JD and Usha Vance married. They had two ceremonies: one Hindu ceremony conducted by a Hindu priest to honor Usha’s Hindu heritage, and one traditional wedding ceremony.
Despite their different religious backgrounds, JD and Usha have been brought closer together. Speaking with Fox News, JD said that his wife’s Hindu faith has been essential to him, helping him to navigate challenges in his professional and personal life and reconcile with his Catholic beliefs. He was raised Christian “but never baptized,” Vance explained.
“I was first baptized in 2018. Usha was actually raised non-Christian. But I remember when I started to re-engage with my faith, Usha was very supportive,” he added.
Who are JD Vance & Usha Vance’s children?
In the same Fox interview, Usha explained she had been brought up in a “religious household.” She agreed that her faith had helped her husband navigate his life.
“My parents are Hindu and that’s one of the things that made them such good parents and good people. And I have seen the power of that in my own life,” she said. “And I knew that JD was searching for something. This just felt right for him.”
“We just talk a lot,” she added, concluding that they agree on many values and principles.
Vance has made it clear that Usha has been crucial in shaping his personal and spiritual beliefs. The couple has three children: Ewan, Vivek, and Mirabel. They have decided to keep their children out of their professional lives and let them grow up outside the spotlight. So, what do we know about the kids? Let’s take a closer look.
JD Vance had a tough childhood, which included living with a mother who was a drug addict. His grandparents adopted him at a very young age, and when he headed down the wrong path in his early teenage years, his grandmother helped him get on the right path.
There has never been a question about whether Vance wants children. He spoke about his desire to become a father during the Republican National Convention 2024.
“My most important American dream was becoming a good husband and a good dad,” Vance said in his speech. “I wanted to give my kids the things I didn’t have when I was growing up.”
JD Vance’s sweet gesture to son Vivek after missing his birthday
“If you’re watching, Daddy loves you very much,” he said, directly addressing his children. “But get your butts in bed, it’s 10 o’clock.”
JD and Usha Vance became parents for the first time in June 2017 when their son, Ewan, was born. Just weeks before Ewan’s birth, Vance and his wife sat down with NBC, revealing that they found out about the gender of their first child very early on.
“We found out right away because JD, there was no way he could wait,” Usha said.
Her husband added: “I wanted to know at, like, nine weeks but apparently that’s not physically impossible.”
During a talk on the Senate Floor last year, JD referred to his oldest child as a “6-year-old baby boy,” but he quickly corrected himself, saying that “he’s not so much of a baby anymore.” Today, Ewan isn’t the only child in the Vance household, as he has two younger siblings. In February 2020, the Vances welcomed their second son, Vivek, but because of his work, JD Vance has missed a host of big moments. In 2024, for example, he was absent for Vivek’s birthday.
In February last year, while standing on the Senate floor, Vance wanted to send his son at least a birthday greeting. He read a passage from the Dr. Seuss book Oh, the Places You’ll Go, adding: “I’m sorry, Vivek, that I can’t be with you for your birthday dinner, but I want you to know that Daddy loves you very much and I’m going to read this into the record because maybe you can watch it at home.”
Daughter Mirabel was “an early Christmas present”
Vance and Usha have been strict about not exposing their children to their public lives. However, they have shared glimpses into family life through social media. For example, in October 2024, the now-vice president posted a picture of JD Vance and Vivek on a fishing trip.
“Great day fishing the Kalamazoo River in Saugatuck with my four year old son Vivek this morning,” JD Vance wrote in the caption. “We always enjoy our visits to Michigan, be back soon!”
In December 2021, JD and Usha welcomed their third child. They revealed the birth of their daughter Mirabel on Instagram, calling her an “early Christmas present.”
“We were blessed with an early Christmas present this year. Everyone please meet Mirabel Rose Vance, our first girl. Mama and baby both doing great, and we’re feeling very grateful this Christmas season,” Vance wrote on Instagram.
Mirabel was just short of a year old when she appeared in public for the first time. In a campaign video published in 2022, she appeared in what was called a “blooper reel.” Shortly before being named Donald Trump’s pick for the vice president seat, JD explained his feelings about being a parent
“I love being a dad and Usha loves being a mom, and I think we love doing that together. And that’s not going to change, whether Trump picks me to be vice president or not,” he told Fox.
His wife added: “There are a lot of things that we just agree on, especially when it comes to family life (and) how to raise our kids. And so I think the answer really is we just talk a lot.”
JD Vance’s codename
JD Vance’s children are growing up fast, in any case. Whether they understand their father’s influential position in world politics is yet unclear, but they do know that their parents have unique codenames courtesy of the Secret Service.
Ever since the days of Truman, every US president has received a Secret Service code name. The same goes goes for the vice president, and oftentimes, it has a nod toward the person’s past.
According to the Daily Mail, the agents protecting JD Vance know him as “Bobcat” because of the connection to sports. The vice president attended Ohio State, where the university football team are known as the Bobcats.
Meanwhile, the Daily Mail, citing a friend, reports that Vance’s family has origins in Jackson, Kentucky. The home team is the Breathitt Country Bobcats, and the codename is also connected to JD.
Secret Service codenames have traditionally been a matter of security for the sitting president or vice president. However, in this modern society, with a lot of encrypted communication, they mostly have a symbolic value and are used for clarity.
Usha Vance says children “had a lot of fun” with their father’s codename
Joe Biden’s codename was Celtic, to honor his Irish roots, while his wife, Jill Biden, was referred to as Capri. Donald Trump is known to be called Humble, and Melania Trump is referred to as Mule.
The name Bobcat has become a huge success within the Vance household. Speaking to Fox in August of last year, Usha Vance gave some insight into how the family has adjusted to their husband’s new political job – and the codename has been a humorous part for the children.
“We have code names now. Our kids had a lot of fun with that,” Usha Vance said.
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