J. K. Rowling chose the names, or the proper nouns, in her Harry Potter books very carefully. Some names are inside jokes, some give you additional information about the characters, and some are simply clever plays on words.
If the entire world hadn't already read the books or watched the movies a million times already, I would tag this blog entry with a "SPOILER ALERT!" warning, but you're all way past that. I hope.
- Hogwarts: This one's easy. Reverse the syllables and you get "warthog". Hakuna matata, eh?
- Dumbledore: My understanding is that this is an old English synonym for "bumblebee".
- Malfoy: From the French mal foi, meaning "bad faith". The idiom has the same meaning in French as it does in English, and is a suitable name for a sleazy, conniving family who isn't loyal to anything except itself.
- Longbottom: A compound word that conjures up a funny picture in American English. I believe it has a geographical meaning in British English, like "along the river bottom", but I'm not sure.
- Lovegood: Also an interesting compound word. It reminds me of the Greek name Theophilus and the Latin name Amadeus, both of which mean "love God" — as in "one who loves God". Lovegood could mean "one who loves good" or "one who loves God".
- Xenophilius: Xenophilius Lovegood is Luna's father. Xeno means "strange", so Xenophilius could mean "one who loves strange things."
- Lily and Petunia Evans: Harry's mother and her sister were both named after flowers.
- It's interesting that none of Harry's other close friends, nor Harry himself, have distinctive first or last names. I mean, "Weasley" is a funny name, but it's not descriptive of the family's facial features or other characteristics.
- Diagon Alley: "diagonally", obviously.
- Knockturn Alley: "nocturnally". Not quite as obvious.
- Grimmauld Place: It's a "grim old place".
- Knight Bus: It doesn't run during the day.
- Pensieve: a respelling of "pensive". Both have to do with thoughts.
- Floo: a respelling of "flue", the pipe that takes smoke away from a fireplace or stove.
- Voldemort: In the second book, "Tom Marvolo Riddle" is revealed to be an anagram for "I am Lord Voldemort" (or the other way around). The French vol de mort means "flight of death" or "flight from death", both of which are appropriate for the character.
- Slytherin: How does a snake move? It slithers. Duh.
- Remus Lupin: This was a good one. Romulus and Remus were the twin babies, raised by a she-wolf, who went on to found the city of Rome and the entire Roman empire. And lupus is Latin for "wolf". Get it?
- Professor Sprout: She teaches Herbology. Insert cute little giggle here.
- Sybill Trelawney: A one-ell sybil or sibyl was an oracle or prophetess in ancient Greece. Good name for a fortune-telling teacher.
- Libatius Borage: The author of the sixth-year textbook Advanced Potion-Making. "Libatius" comes from the same root as "libation," a fancy word for a drink. "Borage" is a real word, meaning "a herbaceous plant with bright blue flowers and hairy leaves, used medicinally and as a salad green" — in other words, a likely ingredient for a potion.
- Beauxbatons: The French beaux batons means "beautiful sticks" or, colloquially, "beautiful wands". Everybody knows this, right?
- Durmstrang: This is a fun one. It's a twist on the German phrase sturm und drang, literally "storm and stress" and referring to an artistic genre that emphasized violent emotions, often leading to violent, unrestrained action. Remember the noise, the tension, and the danger of the Triwizard Tournament? That's one manifestation of sturm und drang.
- Fleur Delacour: The French fleur de la coeur means "flower of the heart". That's a pretty good name for a veela whose mere appearance causes men to fall in love with her.
- Madame Maxime: This is French for "maxim", which doesn't really work, but it might be a shortened form of maximum, which means the same in French and English. "I 'ave nevair been more insulted in my life! 'Alf-giant? Moi? I 'ave — I 'ave big bones!" Right. "The only thing that's got bigger bones than her is a dinosaur," says Ron. Her first name, Olympe, translates to Olympia and refers to Mount Olympus, the home of the ancient Greek gods.
- Sirius Black: This was also a good one. Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, is known as "the Dog Star" and is part of the constellation Canis Major, or Great Dog. In his animal form, Sirius was a big, black dog.
- The ancient and noble house of Black: This is one of the few wizarding families for whom we have an extensive genealogy. Many, if not all, of the family members are named after a celestial object: a star, a nebula, a constellation. Here are a few: Sirius, Bellatrix, Andromeda, Regulus, Arcturus, Orion, Draco, Scorpius.
- I haven't found Narcissa in the night sky; however, the male name Narcissus belongs to a figure in Greek mythology who was so self-centered that it killed him, and his name and character are preserved in the modern term narcissist.
- I haven't found a celestial source for the excellent wizarding name Nymphadora either.
- Phineas Nigellus Black: Sirius' great-great-great-grandfather, former Hogwarts Headmaster, and the founder of the ancient and noble house of Black. "Nigellus" is a very old English word for "black".
- Kreacher: Say it out loud. Now say "creature" out loud. Clever, no?
- Dolores Umbridge: Dolores is a Spanish name, and is the plural of dolor, meaning "sorrow" or "pain". And "Umbridge", like "Kreacher" is a respelling of another English word, umbrage in this case. Umbrage has an appropriate double meaning: first, "extreme resentment caused by an insult or slight", and second, "comparative darkness that results from the blocking of light rays". It's a great name for such an evil woman. She's one of the people Dumbledore had in mind when he told Harry, "The world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters".
- Sanguini: an Italian vampire. Blood! Blood! Blood!
- Fenrir Greyback: Fenrir is the name of "a monstrous wolf in Norse mythology", according to Wikipedia. Fenrir was also known as Fenris Ulf — a nice crossover for all of you Narnia fans. And Greyback sounds like the perfect surname for a wolf, doesn't it?
Not knowing colloquial British English at all, I'm sure I've missed several other good ones. Feel free to point them out to me in a comment.
The same goes for the Russian or Slavic names, such as Dolohov and Karkaroff. If there's significance buried in those names, I don't get them.
