Gates was born in Seattle, Washington. He is the son of William H. Gates, Sr.[b] and Mary Maxwell Gates. Gates' ancestral origin includes English, German, and Scots-Irish.[16][17] His father was a prominent lawyer, and his mother served on the board of directors for First Interstate BancSystem and the United Way. Gates's maternal grandfather was JW Maxwell, a national bank president. Gates has one elder sister, Kristi (Kristianne), and one younger sister, Libby. He was the fourth of his name in his family, but was known as William Gates III or "Trey" because his father had the "II" suffix.[18] Early on in his life, Gates's parents had a law career in mind for him.[19] When Gates was young, his family regularly attended a Protestant Congregational church.[20][21][22] The family encouraged competition; one visitor reported that "it didn't matter whether it was hearts or pickleball or swimming to the dock ... there was always a reward for winning and there was always a penalty for losing