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August 17, 2015 7:48 PM   Subscribe

My daughter is turning 11 next year and I am writing her a Harry Potter inspired story (fanfic) of her very own. She is the star character in a story about her first year at Hogwarts. Can you help me name some of other characters?

I am not loving any of the names I have come up with so far. Also I am Australian, so typically British names are not coming to me easily, especially surnames.

What would you name a character from the wizarding world?

Looking for really 'wizardy' type ones and also plainer ones.
Feel free to add a Hogwarts house or other info you feel fits your character!
posted by Youremyworld to Media & Arts (16 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
This recent post on the Blue of the Dictionary of Medieval Names is a great resource!
Could you include takes on lots of names of people in her life already?
posted by missmary6 at 7:58 PM on August 17, 2015


Feldspar Thistlecraft
posted by vrakatar at 7:58 PM on August 17, 2015 [1 favorite]


For very British names, you can find a links to different lists of British peers on wikipedia.

From the list of Dukes I spotted
Edward Fitzlan-Howard
Charlest Gordon-Lennox
Murray Beauclerk
Peregrine Cavendish
Jamie Spencer-Churchill

Although when my father made up stories focus as children he would use the names of law firms for this characters. So, top 100 largest law firms might give you
Kaer McKenzie,
Skadden Arps
Allen Overy
Hogan Lovells
Herbert Smith Freehills

Have fun!
posted by metahawk at 7:59 PM on August 17, 2015 [1 favorite]


Tons of characters from the books have Roman names - Remus, Albus, Severus, Lucius, etc. You can generate a pretty endless supply of characters by matching a Roman given name with a pureblooded family. (If you invent a Black, be sure to give them a star name!)
posted by galaxy rise at 8:01 PM on August 17, 2015 [1 favorite]


I found the characters in Rowling's recent detective series (written under a pen name) to have a Hogwartsian feel: Lula Landry, Cormoran Strike, Tansy Bestigui, etc. You can steal some of them without fear your 11-year-old will have read those books, I suspect.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:04 PM on August 17, 2015


JRK is really into the theme names, too. Vector, Spore, Sprout, Merry thought, Vindictus, Trimble...some of them are pretty silly.

Something you can do is go through Pottermore to find obscure characters and one-off names, like old headmasters and textbook authors, and give extant surnames new first names. Keep them in-universe.
posted by phunniemee at 8:08 PM on August 17, 2015


Why not incorporate existing names, either from literature or history, so that they will be friendly and familiar when she meets them in other contexts?

10 Best Jane Austen Characters

Jane Austen characters on Wikipedia

Metafilter post about female scientists including Hertha Ayrton, Virginia Apgar, Grace Hopper, Hedy Lamarr, Yvonne Brill, Agnes Arber, and others.
posted by amtho at 8:12 PM on August 17, 2015 [1 favorite]


amtho is on the mark. JK Rowling nabbed loads of names from the western canon, especially British literature. Follow suit! Think of your favorite British novels and shamelessly rip off the surnames of minor characters.
posted by town of cats at 8:38 PM on August 17, 2015


A very handy thing: the list of Dickensian characters.

Flintwinch! Gradgrind! Meagles! Peerybingle!
posted by rtha at 8:47 PM on August 17, 2015


A couple sources I would try -

Old place names from Great Britain - ie. Yaddlethorpe, Prickwillow, Scagglethorpe, Nempnett Thrubwell, Killiecrankie, Chewton Mendip

Herbs, Vegetables, fruits and flowers - ie. Licorice, Nettle, Speedwell, Willow, Parsnip, Dandelion, Fiddlehead, Squashblossom, dabberlocks or badderlocks, BLuebell, Bottlebrush, Foxglove, Hibiscus
posted by ReluctantViking at 8:56 PM on August 17, 2015 [3 favorites]


Use the real names of British new wave/punk/new romantic musicians. Where else but Hogwarts would Vincent Clarke, Martin Gore, Susan Ballion and James Somerville hang out together?
posted by infinitewindow at 9:18 PM on August 17, 2015


Another source of inspiration might be the character names Terry Pratchett came up with for Discworld. They have an English "feel" to them but often with a twist, and in a way that's reminiscent of Rowling's names.

In particular he often makes names that are Discworld-twisted versions of real Earth names, like Leonard of Quirm (Leonardo da Vinci), Visit-the-Infidel-with-Explanatory-Pamphlets (like actual Puritan name If-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned), or Imp y Celyn (Welsh-ish for Bud y Holly). Also place names like Überwald (Transylvania), Bad Schüshein, or Aix-En-Pains.
posted by traveler_ at 10:22 PM on August 17, 2015


The HP Wiki is a great resource if she wants to make any of her characters relatives of already-established characters. She can just sort by Characters at the top or more specifically Slytherins or the Black family tree.

Also, Rowling is a big fan of alliterative names, names rooted in Greco-Roman mythology, Shakespearian names, floral names (for girls), and astronomical names. Behind the Name has suggestions for all of the above and even suggests theme names.

So maybe:

Gemma Greengrass
Clover Smethley
Iago Higgs
Daisy Widdershins
Magnus Macmillan
Odelia Jorkins
Luther Swindlehurst
Elsie Atterberry
Crispin Cattermole
Violet Outteridge
posted by bgal81 at 8:59 AM on August 18, 2015 [2 favorites]


I've been part of a long Harry Potter AU project where I'm also the Keeper of Data, and we have so many names. So many.

Our usual methods are:
- Canon names and last names.
- Latin words (and related terms: astronomy, alchemy, etc.)
- Mythology names, especially obscure ones. (There are many many obscure Roman and Celtic deities, and wikipedia produces lists of them pretty easily.)
- Random 18th and 19th century British literature (especially the less well-known stuff)
- The person in the project who I think reliably does the best names mines dictionaries a lot, and sometimes changes a letter or two.
- Whenever we're doing longer lists of names, taking a minute or two to look at larger demographics (ethnic background, culture, etc.) and tweak to suit.

The other thing to think about is whether names reflect things about the people - so, longtime pureblood families of a certain class often have some naming in common (mythological or astronomical names + one of the Sacred 28 family names), Muggle and Muggleborn people will have names more in keeping with mainstream Muggle naming conventions, wizarding people not from the longtime pureblood families may have their own conventions (this is where we do a lot of 'very weird name + common British last name'). Figuring out which often helps us come up with the right name form to start with, which helps a lot.

If you'd like a data dump of names, feel free to MeMail me with an email address, and I can send you a bunch.
posted by modernhypatia at 9:09 AM on August 18, 2015 [2 favorites]


Best answer: All of these answers have been incredibly helpful, thank you so much everyone. You have all helped to get my creativity flowing (I even came up with a name for an Australian based wizarding school)!

Thank you!
posted by Youremyworld at 5:52 PM on August 18, 2015


You might want to also include names that reflect longstanding UK immigrant communities (Caribbean, South Asian, etc) in the UK. Also it could be fun to think of specifically Welsh, Scottish and Irish family names as well!
posted by spamandkimchi at 6:07 PM on August 19, 2015 [1 favorite]


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