Names in the Harry Potter world

PREFACE: This is something I've wanted to do for a long time. I'm sure it's better documented elsewhere on the Internet, but this is the result of my journey of discovery in Harry Potter's world. I'll add to the list as time goes on.

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.

J.K. Rowling is writing again - for grown-ups, this time

Without releasing any details other than the name of its publisher (Little, Brown in both the USA and Britain), J.K. Rowling announced today that she has written another book. This novel is aimed at a more adult audience.

As I said, she has not divulged the title, genre, storyline, or release date. She has said that it will be available in both paper and electronic forms.

I guess this announcement answers that question.

J.K. Rowling, the next chapter

In a previous entry, I addressed the question of whether J.K. Rowling would ever write again. My opinion was, more or less, "she doesn't need to, she said she's not going to, she's already doing some pretty cool stuff, and I wish her well in whatever she does."

In an update at the end of that entry, I added a link to a mysterious countdown. If you click on the link now, you will be taken to JKR's announcement of the opening of Pottermore.

Pottermore is a new JKR enterprise, aimed at getting even more kids to read and to enjoy reading, using her Harry Potter books as the vehicle to get there. As far as I can tell, it doesn't cost a user anything to join up. The official opening date is October, but a lucky few will gain early access to Pottermore before then.

Will J. K. Rowling ever write again?

A Fandango article this morning reported on an interview with J. K. Rowling, in which she said (yet again) that she's not going to continue the Harry Potter saga. After being pressed relentlessly by the interviewer, she ventured that maybe she would revisit the Hogwarts world, but not for "another ten years" or so. That was enough to satisfy the interviewer.

The article didn't explicitly state this next point, but the flavor of the article prompted a string of reader comments, which asserted and debated the following hypotheses.

- JKR has an obligation to keep the Harry Potter / Hogwarts story going.

- JKR cannot, and will not, be successful at writing anything else.

By now, the JKR story is as famous as the Harry Potter story, and I don't need to go into the details about how she wrote the first book of the famous series. But I have a few opinions of my own.

1. Rowling is a damn good writer. Or she has a damn good editor. Or both. This was crystal clear in her first Harry Potter book. Her writing either stayed at the high level of the first book or improved as the series grew. I wish I could write as well as she does.

(Unfortunately, the books also got fatter. That happens to all successful authors. It also happens to successful automobile brands, mobile phones, and restaurant menus. I would like to read a successful author who can keep their follow-on works as slim and as powerful as their original bestseller.)

2. Rowling is extremely intelligent, and knows a lot about subjects other than the wizarding world. Unlike the loud and vacuous celebrities who appear increasingly stupid every time they open their mouths in public, JKR has chosen her words carefully, limited her public engagements, and never shown every card in her hand. But don't sell her short. She is not a one-trick pony.

3. Related to that second point, I think that JKR is capable of writing in any genre of fiction - or on any nonfiction subject - that she chooses. I would expect her future works to be readable and enjoyable, even compelling. I, for one, would not restrict my expectations of her future writing to Hogwarts, wizardry, or Harry Potter and his friends. I would pay good money to read what else she has to say about the world at large.

4. JKR is now very wealthy. She can spend the rest of her life sailing the world, gambling in Monte Carlo, or relaxing on a private estate and throwing parties for Radcliffe and company, if that's what she wants to do. She has no obligation to do anything, for anyone. And I say more power to her.

5. JKR has chosen a more private lifestyle, concentrating on her family and on a small number of charitable causes. Her fame, her wealth, and her wisdom (and prudence) put her in a unique position in the world. Lucky lady. Absent the fame, I'd like to be in that situation someday.

Edit, June 16, 2011: I'm not sure what this is about, but this link was the countdown to, and eventually the announcement of, Pottermore, an online experience for Rowling fans from all over the world.

Edit, February 23, 2012: A book for adults is in the works. She announced it today.