The Vice President explained on CSPAN several years ago that his grandmother's maiden name was Robinette. So that is how both he and his father got their middle names of Robinette. Many families use the maiden names of female family members when naming their children. Joe Biden's second son to his first wife is Robert Hunter Biden. His first wife Neilia (Hunter) Biden died tragically in a car wreck along with his infant daughter back in 1972. So his second son's middle name is his first wife's maiden name. It amazes me how people are so quick to criticize something as personal as a name. We don't pick our own names, they are bestowed upon us by our parents and they can, in the case of Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., reflect our heritage.