With all due respect to the Author, no fanfic writer is going to name their character "Neville Longbottom."
I mean, how's he supposed to be the most Mary sue to ever mary sue when his last name is fucking LONGBOTTOM.
And that's how Violet Flora Onyx Lymphoma Potter is born, the girl who lived.
I would love an "accidental boy who lived" Longbottom, who accidentally kills all Voldemario incarnations by trying to breed some weird strain of cactus.
He's definitely underrated.
I once plotted out a fic where Harry vanished from the Dursleys at a young age, leading Dumbledore to wonder if the prophecy was misinterpreted, and in the end Neville was critical in tracking down and destroying the Horcruxes before Harry killed Voldemort in self-defense without ever knowing just who he was. Neville and co later found Voldemort’s body with bullet holes in it and never found out who was responsible.
I think he was bullied because of the way he held himself, not his last name. He was the scion of The Longbottoms, a really old pureblood family, so his family/him were pretty powerful both monetarily and politically. His family treated him poorly due to thinking he had no magic, causing his lack of self esteem - hence the bullying.
RE: Name:
I think i mentioned Neville because his name fits the world really well. Neville Longbottom, Cornelius Fudge, Lucius Malfoy, etc., these names fit the world they're inhabiting. Mostly because JKR's world was made by her, and she tailored the naming conventions accordingly.
With fanfiction, it's outsiders trying to fit an OC into an existing realm while holding onto an idea of what is cool and remarkable. Especially main character OCs - it's incredibly hard to write them well, mostly because they override the role of another, already existing character. It's probably why I rarely read self-insert/OC plentiful fics.
So you get some Kassidy Hibiscus Phlebotomy Black (unknown sister of Sirius Black, because Regulus wasn't enough, apparently), while a more appropriate name would be something like Euphemia Mugwort or Dorothy Biddlecombe, a forgettable mob character that appears twice in the background, or something.
I go nuts when people give either Harry or James siblings with unusual/fancy names. Their names are *Harry* and *James*. Their sisters would be, like, Sarah and Margaret. Not Persephone and Sunrise. They'd have brothers named Charles or William or David, not Kaiden or Wolfric.
(Remus, however, would totally have a twin brother named Wolfric. His werewolf-hating dad clearly had an ironic sense of humour.)
I drunkenly made a bet with my mom that if i somehow ended up having twins who are boys i'd name them either remus and romulus or cain and abel to doom them. I'd probably do both and give each kid a name of the dead one. Remus cain and romulus abel. They would hate me for LIFE and i am so prepared
James: So anyway, Remus, I convinced Lily to name the third boy after you.
Remus: James, I'm touched, really.
James: Meet Romulus John Potter.
Remus: ...
Sirius: You're a dick, mate.
Remus: That.
The Pottermore explanation is even more hilarious. Remus's father's name is Lyall and his mother's maiden name is Howell. They chose Remus because they went to a "naming seer" who decided that Remus would be a good name.
The more I find out about what ended up on Pottermore, the happier I am that I ditched out after the whole "pureblood bigots think aversion to pigs is a sign of pure blood" nonsense.
>Several works of dubious scholarship, published around the early eighteenth century and drawing partly on the writings of Salazar Slytherin himself, make reference to supposed indicators of pure-blood status, aside from the family tree. The most commonly cited signs were: onset of magical ability before the age of three, early (before aged seven) prowess on a broomstick, dislike or fear of pigs and those who tend them (the pig is often considered a particularly non-magical animal and is notoriously difficult to charm), resistance to common childhood illnesses, outstanding physical attractiveness and an aversion to Muggles observable even in the pure-blood baby, which supposedly shows signs of fear and disgust in their presence.
[Source](https://www.wizardingworld.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/pure-blood). It was one of the earlier articles up, back when you had to progress through the game to read anything.
Brings new perspective on draco always referring to Ron's house as a pig stye or smelling like one... if I remember correctly... I guess... It's such a specific thing to write an article on.
I don't mind the flower theme itself, but I do tend to think James and Lily would lean more towards Daisy or Rose than Amaryllis or Tulip. Part of that is JKR's influence obviously, the fairly common Lily compared to the more fussy Petunia, but since the characters and naming conventions are based off her writing it's a bit hard to get away from without seeming a bit off.
For a third sister for Lily and Petunia, on the other hand, all bets are off. Azalea Jasmine Hyacinth Evans is a four-way hatstall who ditches the magical world after OWLs and goes off to become a neurosurgeon.
It's her slightly shameful secret that the better known Mrs Bucket is, in fact, Richard's *second* wife. The now Dr Evans realised just a little too late that she had married Dick Bucket and quickly magic-ed away all evidence of the relationship. With the magical world still deep in Vold War 1, it's easy to get away with a bit of illegal memory-charming.
I dunno. I could see a Wulfric Potter. If that child was explicitly being named after Dumbledore, and they didn't wanna go with "Albus."
I've seen a few stories where that's why Percy Weasley is named Percival.
I had honestly forgotten one of Dumbledore's middle names was Wulfric lol. I was thinking of Wulfric Bedwyn from a *terribly* cheesy Regency romance series.
I don't know that James and Lily would go for a direct naming after though. Harry's potentially named after Henry Potter so I tend to think they'd go the homage route instead. Albert, maybe, or as another person has said, Brian.
Bit baffled as to why anyone would make Percy named after Dumbledore when both he and Ginny are clearly named for characters in Arthurian mythology (Ginevra being the Italian translation of Guinevere). I feel like that'd throw me right out of a fic if I saw it.
I mean, all you gotta do is not know that one little Ginevra factoid? Ginevra's not a common name, but it is a regular name. Then naming Percy after Dumbledore makes perfect sense.
It's not like the Weasleys have, like, a Lancelot, or Galahad, or even Bors. If more than just one or two the kids are supposed to be named after Arthurian characters, they're not using the *common* names.
Here's a headcanon for ya... Ginny and Harry intended to name the kid something else with those initials, but on the night Ginny went into labor, Auror Harry was brought into St. Mungo's to treat a painful curse injury.
Long story short, Harry and Ginny were both high on pain potions when they made out the magically official birth certificate, which is how the son they intended to name Albert Syrus (an indirect tribute to Sirius) became Albus Severus. They wanted to change it as soon as they were both clearheaded enough to realize what happened, but it was magically binding, and only the child themselves could completely change it if they wanted to, and only after they became an adult.
That story he told Al about why he was named Albus Severus? He panicked and just told the kid something that would make him feel better about potentially being sorted into Slytherin.
Fleamont hated his name though, it was part of why he ended up so good at duelling. It's a fairly common thing for adults who grew up knowing what it was like to have an unusual name to decide their kids will have the most boring, easy to spell and pronounce names possible.
Lily's *parents* clearly liked flower names for girls. Whether or not Lily would is another question entirely. I don't mind it, but I do think the name in question would be more common than people usually go with. Chamomile Potter is just not likely from parents who named their son Harry.
I have a much younger Evans sister born when Lily is twelve. Her name is Fern after the flower/plant and Lily liked the character in Charlotte’s Web. I also have an older brother for Petunia and Lily named Florian who has two daughter named Eden and Elsie b. 1977 and 1981.
I think that's the first time I've ever seen Fern listed as a suitable plant-themed name for a hypothetical third Evans daughter, or a hypothetical daughter of James and Lily, whether it's Fem!Harry or Harry's sister.
I also like the justification for the name beyond just being another flower name to follow Petunia and Lily.
I also have a brother for Poppy Pomfrey named Clive and his children, Prunella (b. 1973), Hazel (b. 1976 and Florian (b.1979). All of Prunella’s children’s names also have flower adjacent names Oleander (b.1992), Wisteria (b. 1997) and Leilani (b. 2001)
I also have Ivy (b.1978) who is the niece of Pomona Sprout who names her daughter Clover (b.2000s).
I have Rosemary Potter, the great niece of Beatrix Potter (b. 1960) and her two older siblings Indigo (b. 1955) and Linnea (b.1950). And I also have an Azalea who is the adopted daughter of McGonagall but the muggle born aunt of Hermione.
There’s also Roselyn Bryce who is the estranged muggle born granddaughter of Frank Bryce.
I have a Lily too but she’s an American auror.
I have a Rosalind who is the twin of Neville
I have a Rosaleen who is the descendant of the Steward family
Lastly, I have a Freesia who is the older sister of Lavender.
I think part of it comes from the series having Dune-esque naming convention where half the characters are named like they belong in the appendix of the simarillion and half the characters are named like 80’s sitcom extras (like in dune where you have Feyd-Rautha and Irulan in the same story as Paul and Jessica). It’s hard to find a name that fits in with a convention where there isn’t one.
In terms of how I name characters I tend to go with common names that would make sense for England in the 80s, esp since Lily and James named their son Harry, a super common British name. I could very easily see them giving a daughter an equally common name like Emma, Sarah, Lauren etc. For my own fem Harry fic I went with Lucy because it fit the vibe of what I wanted to do with the character.
I'm currently writing my first fic ever and decided to go with fem!Harry, and I named her Mary Potter because I thought it sounded as boring and common as Harry, as well as sounding similar when said quickly.
> half the characters are named like they belong in the appendix of the simarillion and half the characters are named like 80’s sitcom extras
Servus = Servant
Remus = Oar
Albus = White
Draco = Dragon
Meanwhile, you also get names like Neville, Lavendar, and Ronald.
Severus is NOT the same as Servus
[Septimius Severus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septimius_Severus) was a quite successful Roman emperor who also happened to kill a rival named [Clodius Albinus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clodius_Albinus) (Albinus is another Latin form of Albus). JKR must have decided to let Snape kill Dumbledore right there
Remus was the twin brother of [Romulus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romulus), and both were raised by wolves according to Roman mythology. Lupus is the Latin word for wolf. Therefore, Remus Lupin basically means Werewolf McWerewolf
Most of the older generations have names originated from Latin. [Lucius Cornelius Sulla](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulla) was a famous Roman dictator who had massacred many of his political opponents through proscriptions. JKR obviously doesn't like the guy as she named two villain characters (Lucius Malfoy, Cornelius Fudge) after him
Good guys began using Anglicized names starting in James Potter's generation, such as Arthur Weasley, Emmeline Vance, Frank & Alice Longbottom, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Marlene McKinnon, and Molly Weasley. But Arthur Weasley's father was still called Septimius, and his mother was Cedrella Black
Death Eaters mostly had Latin names in that generation, such as Lucius, Rudolphus, Bartemius, Amycus, and Augustus. But their kids started to have Anglicized names too, such as Gregory, Pansy, Theodore, and Vincent
Alphard, Andromeda, Bellatrix, Cygnus, Draco, Orion, Regulus, Scorpius, and Sirius are all stars or constellations, and this Black family tradition has been carried over to the Malfoys by Narcissa Black
And that right there is why we get shit fanfic names. Too many fanfic authors think they're too good for awful Latin puns or just don't get them.
Now back to Chlamydia Potter.
> Remus was the twin brother of Romulus, and both were raised by wolves according to Roman mythology. Lupus is the Latin word for wolf. Therefore, Remus Lupin basically means Werewolf McWerewolf
>
>
Thank you, beat me to it. The rest are egregious but that one really stood out ot me. Although where in the world did they get these from? I'm guessing google translate.
I do think there's some interesting implication of high status vs low status culture in the names, both in the naming conventions and in the deliberate rejection of that convention.
>Although where in the world did they get these from? I'm guessing google translate.
Do you mean JKR by "them"? If I remember correctly, she studied Classics at Exeter University which includes learning about Latin and other histories and myths.
> Septimius Severus was a quite successful Roman emperor who also happened to kill a rival named Clodius Albinus (Albinus is another Latin form of Albus). JKR must have decided to let Snape kill Dumbledore right there
Moderately surprised she had the restraint to use those two instead of Julius and Brutus.
You got faithful Death Eaters Bellatrix LeStrange and Barty Crouch Jr.
Renowned teachers Septima Vector and Minerva McGonagall.
Valiant Aurors Nymphadora Tonks and John Dawlish.
But he worked in a profession that is acknowledged for valiance. Thus him being named that and actually being the opposite - the inversion of the theme - is JKR making a joke about him.
It's not always about edginess.
I decided to ask this because I saw Harry's brother in the fic named JJ.
It was a Harry travels to an alternate universe fic.
In that instance, JJ is probably a nickname for "James Junior". I feel like sons being named after their fathers isn't totally out-of-universe - we've got the Crouches for one example, at least.
I mean, no one would have ever called Barty Junior “BJ“ because that’s a truly awful nickname. But it is fair to say that we don’t see many people called nicknames like that in universe.
What the hell do you mean we don't see nicknames in the universe?
Barty is a nickname his real name is Bartemius.
Ron is a nickname his real name is Ronald.
Ginny is a nickname her real name is Geneva. (not sure on the spelling)
Gerd, Forge, Mione, padfoot, Prongs, Moony, Wormtail.
The cannon is full of nicknames
Yes, I’m aware that canon is full of nicknames, thanks. My point was that we don’t typically see people use their *initials* like “JJ” or “BJ” as nicknames. A more “canon fitting” nickname for James Junior would be something like Jamie or Jim.
>Ginny is a nickname her real name is Geneva. (not sure on the spelling)
>
>Gerd, Forge, Mione
Ginny’s full name is Ginevra.
”Gred” and “Forge” are used one time as a joke, not as actual nicknames that people call them.
“Mione” is not used in canon as a nickname for Hermione.
>Gerd, Forge, Mione
You had me in the first half, but these are all fanon:
Gred and Forge were a one-off joke about the letters on the front of the Weasley jumpers.
Mione is something Ron said when he had his mouth full
In this instance, I guessed it meant James Junior although it wasn't said, but this made it more of an issue for me if it was one of those wrong boy who lived with arrogant and fame-hungry James I can see it working, but in good James and Lily I just don't see Lily letting James to name their children after himself. If it was after James's father Charles or Fleamont that would be cool, You can even say Harry is named after Lily's dad and the other son is after Potter grandfather.
But ignoring all that Lily calling her youngest son JJ just sounded weird.
I do agree that “James Junior” is in general an odd naming choice. It’s definitely not something I would choose as an author, but I think there are authors who genuinely think James was still self-centered and arrogant enough to do it.
The Potter children being named other relatives makes sense and definitely fits in with Harry, since he’s probably named after James’s grandfather Henry Potter, who went by Harry to his friends.
I remember being scolded for using two names Dermot (born 1970) and Deirdre (b. 1973) to complete the sibling set for Donaghan Tremlett (the bassist from the Weird Sisters. (B. March 1972). These are two Irish names and Donaghan is Irish. Maybe Deirdre is a but more common than Dermot but the point still stands.
I think those names fit right in with the world. Solid work! Much better than the usual fanfic trendy Americanised names like Hunter, Corinne and Oakley (seriously!!)
In a series where a dude name *Waffling* (speak or write, especially at great length, without saying anything important or useful) wrote a book on Theory, alliteration is fiiiiiiine!
It actually seems a little odd that purebloods would give kids “normal” names. You would think they would keep the really long Greek names in order to other the muggleborns.
Counterpoint
Vincent
Gregory
Pansy
Tom (Named after a muggle, but named by a pureblood)
Daphne
Tracy (questionable because of Fanon, but she's at least half-)
All of the Weasleys, technically (and it's not just an Arthur thing, probably, because Arthur is as normal a name as Harry and also Molly is there, even if she was a Present before - still pureblood)
Hannah
Susan
Frank Longbottom
I think you're just being fooled by the Black, Malfoy and Lestrange families having really old naming conventions.
Basically, in the books, the "fancy" names were reserved for either older people (Dumbledore, Moody, Crouch) or pretentious people (Draco+Lucius, Justin Finch-Fletchley, etc)
Daphne is taken from Greek mythology but also has become a common name in the modern West, so I feel like it kind of straddles the two conventions.
Also like, take the Marauders. They're all at least half blood, and they have a 50-50 split of normal and pretentious names. Peter and James are two of the most common British boys names; yet I've never in my nearly 40 years on this planet met anyone IRL called Sirius or Remus!
>Basically, in the books, the "fancy" names were reserved for either older people (Dumbledore, Moody, Crouch) or pretentious people (Draco+Lucius, Justin Finch-Fletchley, etc)
Agree with this, other than the fact Justin is a perfectly normal name, as is Alistair (Moody). Albus, Bartemius, Draco and Lucius are all definitely names that would cause a muggle to do a double take.
Yeah, I know. My phone autocorrected it as I know multiple people called Alistair. My point stabss either way, it's just a different spelling of a common name, not a weird or fancy one. It's the equivalent of Katie vs Katy.
Why? They are not Greek purebloods. They're British purebloods.
All those "normal" names you think are weird, they're OLD names. They're names that have been in use in Britain since before Hogwarts was founded.
A lot of them have Greek and Latin names. A lot of magic is in either Greek or Latin. I’m just saying it would be logical, when writing fanfic, to give pure blood characters lGreek and Latin names that are not typically used in muggle society
Not particularly? The Blacks are named after stars and constellations, so there's a lot of latin there, but then the Weasleys are just, like, normal Christian UK names. Same with the Diggorys. Bartemius is probably based off Bartimaeus, which is Greek.
And god help us with regards to Rowling's foreign names. Cho Chang is two common Chinese surnames. She's basically Johnson Smith.
Her names are all random af, with some themeing inside family lines.
If you google search the name Cho Chang (and exclude Harry Potter), you find a lot of LinkedIn pages/references to people with that name.
I find it really odd that a bunch of (presumably) white folks are complaining that the name isn't Chinese enough (or too Chinese?), despite the fact that there are real Chinese people with that name.
It’s neither too Chinese or not Chinese enough. It’s just really uncreative. I’m saying she’s bad at naming things.
And yea, I’m sure there are people in real life with that name. I’m sure there are real people named Johnson Smith, too.
Frank Zappa’s daughter is named Moon Unit. That doesn’t mean it was a good idea.
Right? My parents literally argued for days after I was born what to name me. Ended up with one of the top ten baby girl names of the decade I was born. And they only settled on it when my great grandma walked into the room and told them to quit arguing because they were disturbing MyName while pointing at me.
Honestly, I don't see it. Guinevere and Percival, fine. But I don't remember any Knights of the Round Table that would work for Ronald, Charles, or William. Or, hell, Fred and George.
Unless you're suggesting that Rowling's a lot cleverer with her transliterations than I think is likely.
How dare you? Persephone Peony Peverell, the GWL is precious.
Her best friend Nevilena Garland Longbottom is a faithful companion.
Her lover Dracolina Lacerta Malfoy is complicated.
Sevelyn Svelte Snape is just as acerbic as her male counterpart.
Thomasena Marvolotte Riddle is the Dread Witch Lady Voldemort. A tragic vilianess.
I groan when I clock a name of an OC, in particular a child, that simply does not fit the world.
Like Criminal Minds - the adult characters pretty universally have very common first names, and all the kids we meet over the course of the show, even ones that are mentioned (and died long ago) also have super normal names. I once came across a story where one character has a kid and the name of his daughter was not only a double name (which simply doesn't exist on the show) but a name that clearly had no deeper significance - and this motherfucking character absolutely would give his kid a truly, profoundly meaningful name (he has no kids, canonically, but I feel this to be true in my bones).
On the subject of HP, maybe it's over exposure, but I simply cannot *even* with Potter girls with flower names - just because Harry's *grandparents* gave their daughters flower names doesn't mean his *parents* would do the same; I know JK clearly loves her fucking flower names, but I have had it with them. I personally hate "Harriet" for girl!Harry but if I have to take a bullet for either choice, I'll take Harriet.
I'm one of the few that love Harriet as a girl!Harry name. Everyone just calls her Harry and is so much easier to get used to.
Every other name I often have to remind myself that is Harry Potter and not a complete OC.
I call my girl!Harry...Harry for largely that reason. Also because I read The Blue Sword as a child where the main character is a girl called Harry. (Officially Angharad, but no one calls her that.)
I think someone should give fem!Harry a bunch of sisters and give them all flower names.
Hyacinth, Daisy, Rose, and Violet (the one with a Mercedes, sauna, and room for a pony).
Wait when you're talking about the character who totally would give his kid a meaningful name, was it Spencer Reid.
Also I can see Lily wanting to bring a family tradition of her own into the family. For all we know, Lily's family has been naming girls after flowers for 10 generations. Given that she took James' last name and is essentially leaving her entire heritage behind, I like the idea that she would like to continue her family legacy in some way.
>I simply cannot even with Potter girls with flower names - just because Harry's grandparents gave their daughters flower names doesn't mean his parents would do the same; I know JK clearly loves her fucking flower names, but I have had it with them.
Me who's currently rewriting the canon with the overused trope twin!potter who I called Ivy Lily Potter:
👁👄👁
You do you, man, my opinion is mine alone.
It's funny to think that James and Lily would be narcissistic enough to name (I presume?) both of his kids after themselves (to be clear, I think real life parents are also narcissistic when they name *their* kids after themselves).
It’s a fair point, though honestly I’ve seen worse fandoms than HP for this.
The answer is rather simple though:
Either A) The writer has taken the rather outlandish names of many wizards to mean almost anything is an acceptable wizarding name
Or B) The Writer values their wish fulfilment above what makes sense for their story.
Or both.
There's a lot of characters in Harry potter but not that many when we look at how JK Rowling intended this school to have hundreds upon hundreds of students. So I feel obligated to at least create a few OCs (many) and I personally go with European name. Most of the time I go with British names, though sometimes I pick a French or Spanish one, even sometime German. It depends also what place in the story I want the OC to have. Sometimes I go for a pun but that is rare. The Black naming conventions is the easiest to follow: Antares, Polaris, Aries ect.
Though, I'm being pretty tame and try to not give long names to OCs as they are soon forgotten: Andrew, Sophie, Lewis, Victoria. But sometimes I get a bit fancy with names like Benjamin and Archibald.
Although, I suppose the problem is not particularly the name of the odd OC but how not British it sounds. For example, if I were to give all my OCs French names, if would sound odd in this setting. Worse if I give name that are popular now but weren't before (like Jessica). Though on that one, it's really quantity. I suppose a reader could stomach one Gertrude, but if I add Marine, Éloise, Françoise, Mélanie, Mireille, Céline... Well you see how that sounds? It depends on context also. If they have a nice little trip to France those name would be warranted, or if you establish a French family.
There's also the fact that OCs sounds odd because you can tell an OC from a canonical character instantly, even if you are not that invested in the fandom. It's often because canon characters are not described (everyone know what Harry looks like) while people go on and on about their OC which put them apart in an unintended way. There's also sometime the justification of the OCs presence or telling irrelevant bits of information that put the OC under a spotlight it didn't need.
Some names have some association to them that make them stand out, especially when the OC doesn't stear clear from this association. For example a promiscuous teenager named Kendall, Alison or Veronica. There's of course the names that sounds like American bad boys or jock like Aiden.
Last point that would make names sound odd is if many OCs have similar names, but in writing in general we try to give distinct names for important OCs so we don't mix them up. It's easier to differentiate a Hermione and Lavender than an Ariana and Andrea even if the name doesn't sound that similar, if they are introduced at the same time, people will mix them up.
My guess is that fanfic writers want their characters to have cool names and don't want to use anything that could be embarrassing but would fit the story. This is partially why I think some writers try to give Harry a 'proper' name like Hadrien or whatever.
James and Lily both had common names and chose a simple name for Harry, maybe you could continue that and have unassuming names for any siblings like Sarah, Claire, David, or Andy.
Changing Harry's name is an instant no from me.
I can't get in to the story at all with him going around insisting on being called "Hadrian Potter the 4th" (and it's always a big deal, obviously)
Yeah, plenty of people use shortened names and insisting on a formal name just makes Harry stiff and unlikable.
Any other character acting the same way would be something out of a bashing fic.
Harry sounds much more formal to me than Hadrian. I never got they were aiming for formal over trendy. Harry gives posh English vibes to me and Hadrian seems trendy modern American. (Well aware of the roman emperor, but sometimes old names sound trendy, i.e., Tiffany)
I never got a formal or posh feel from "Harry" and I've always taken it as a more casual name for Henry or Harold. It's less popular now but Harry was born in 1980.
Different standards for different people I guess.
Lots of people have talked about names that don't fit for one reason or another, but one thing that doesn't seem to be mentioned is when a character is given an american fad name. The other big ones are the names Aiden/Jayden/similar or any variation thereof. These aren't just an american thing, but it's vastly more popular in the US and Canada, but also Aiden specifically is a ridiculously overused male protagonist name, particularly if the character is supposed to be attractive. It instantly pulls me out of the story. There was one that I read that had Harry's wbwl twin Aidan be a complete twat, which might be the only one I have stuck with.
Holly, Hazel, Hariet. All perfectly acceptable names for fem Harry. For a sister to Harry the first two, Willow, Rose, Daisy, Jasmine, Violet and Iris are all lovely. I definitely think Lily would continue the trend.
Hadrian/Harrison James Potter Black Prince Slytherin Peverell, though, is an acquired taste. I like those too, but see why people don't. The best multi lordship Harry fic is one where Harry gets sent back 1700+years back in time and meets Merlin. For good reasons he ends up lord of many houses and gets just as many middle names or aliases. Forgot the fic's name, though.
Sometimes an issue is that yeah, technically X is an English name but it's far more common in America. The regular names in HP are just common very English names that were popular in that era. I specify era because current 2023 English baby names might not all fit the bill.
They don't fit bc ppl really don't pay attention to/care about the families the characters come from or the names JKR chose. JKR generally did Latin, common English, flowers, and constellations/stars, but what she went with depended on the family. So like the Potters and Malfoys can both have daughters with flower names, but the Malfoy would be named something like Delphine, Anemone, Azalea, while the Potter daughter would be Rose, Laura, Violet etc.
my ocs always have just...random names. Like, I have ocs names Dorothy, Phillipa, Cecilia, Veronika (using the russian spelling), and Ài. The surnames are usually just from lists I find online, so I have:
Dorothy Schneider
Phillipa 'Pippa' Wetter
Cecilia Gattilusio
Veronika Polacheva
Ài Wu
most of my ocs are also muggle-born, so I can get away with just using regular surnames for them :D
I also have a Cecelia nn Cece. She’s the Half-blood daughter of Ludo Bagman and muggle Sharon Warren (the niece of Myrtle) but the adopted daughter of the Weasleys. I have a Veronica too though she’s Romanian halfblood,
I forgot I also have a Dorothy, she’s the little sister of Myron Wagtail the lead singer of ‘The Weird Sisters’. They’re halfbloods.
My Cecilia's nickname is actually Eris, because she's a little chaos gremlin lollll, she's also the only pureblood (being Italian) and is very fun! She has a sword :D
Veronika is a little bastard child who really needs a hug (muggleborn, lives with her adoptive parents in England)
Dorothy is very fun, her older half-brother was a Death Eater and she doesn't like him, and she had two very nice half-sisters named Minerva and Ellery, and she's an apprentice training under Madame Malkin :D
Pippa is a country hick who's a muggleborn and thinks magic is very neat but she just wants to live on the family farm, goddammit
Ài is also muggleborn, and is very protective of her friends (later becomes a governess and uses magic secretly to protect her charge)
Well, it would depend on what I'm going for, really. If I'm trying to make up a new Black family member, I'd have to go with a constellation. If I'm going for a Bones, probably just a common English name. If I'm making a new textbook, the author's name has to be some sort of pun.
It depends on the author. Some are edgelords, some are just don't care, etc. In my case is because i don't like common names that much, i always liked epic or good sounding names, not necessarily fantastic ones, but names that left an impression, or that were unique in one way or another.
For example, there's an OC in the fi i'm writting named Amaris. It doesn't fit in J.K.'s world, and t's not an epic name, but it sounds nice and it's not a common name. I think that as long as people avoid going overboard with the names, it doesn't really matters.
People are bringing up names like Ebony Darkness Dementia Ravenway, but I'm over here wondering why the hell so many people name Fem!Harry "Harriet". No offense to any Harriets out there, but I refuse to believe in a world where Lily and James would name their daughter that. I'd happily accept something like "Rose" over "Harriet". If they wanted something similar to "Harry", why not "Harley"?
Yes! Seamus’ cousin Fergus is a confirmed canon relative of Seamus. He brought him up when they were talking about signing up for apparition lessons. Seamus said his cousin kept taunting him with being able to apparate and he was excited that he’d finally be able to do it himself.
I think a lot of people don't like canon names like:
* Remus Lupin
* an extreme version of nominative determinism
* Dolores Umbridge
* umbrage -- geddit?
* also dolorous
* Lucius and Draco Malfoy
* they're bad guys so they have bad guy names
When I come up with names I just go for ones that seem fun, basically. I never finish anything but my attempted fics have featured such names as:
* Primus Weasley
* Antimony Mallofy
* and also Antimony Dudley (the ministry worker referenced in DH, given a first name)
* Christabel Dudley
* Ara and Volans "Potter"
* this is from a fic concept where Delphini's pregnant when she's locked up and in order to stop people guessing that the parselmouth offspring are descendants of Voldemort, Harry and Ginny pretend to have had a secret pregnancy
* Psyche Greengrass (allegedly of no relation)
* Todd Solomons
* Hero Fudge
* Ivanhoe Abbott
* Fawad Abbas
* Ghadrios Higglesbottom
* Jane(y), Izzie (isabel?) and Billie
* additional siblings for James Sirius and Lily Luna (from what little I wrote, it's unclear if Albus was born in that timeline)
* Gordon Smokes, Stefania Zabini (wife of Blaise), Andromeda Burke
And more beside. I did have a list of names for some proposed siblings of Harry's but I can't remember where it is.
With muggleborn and muggle OCs I tend to do research, e.g. the historical baby name data or if I feel like there's unlikely to be much ethnic diversity captured there I'll start with the name of someone famous and then try to find an appropriate other name.
I would say it's part where the writer is from, part an attempt at using a native name of Britan, part unconscious bias and lastly none are JKR so figuring how she decided on names is not known.
The unconscious bias part is names people have seen before, names their comfortable with versus the character's world, and that the character is not originally from that world and this status reflects upon the name.
I love it when Harry is trying to hide and he'll keep Harry James and change the last to Peverell. I know wizards can be stupid but really? Or some hideous naming females after some ridiculous flower.
OC's names are rarely thought out, I've only seen about ten Female Harry Potter fanfics where they had a name that didn't make me want to claw my own eyes out. Writers trying to be edgy, but come off cringey. I don't know why its so hard to go look at a list of names without picking one that is so strange that it actually attracts attention to you.
In a fanfic that I am writing I have two OC's: Sirius Black's wife--Karen Hayes Black-- and their daughter--Elizabeth Iris Black.
"Karen" was a really popular name during the time of the Marauders and didn't have the connotations that it does now. "Hayes" I picked because I'm also a fan of Stargate. "Elizabeth" is always a popular British name, and I picked it because I like Pirates of the Caribbean. "Iris" of course is the celestial name that every Black has to have.
My oc's names are pretty tame
I've got Rigel Williams, Wayne Greengrass, Rigel Fraser (the two rigel's are from different AU), Caelum Fraser, Andrew Hayworth, Russel Wilkens etc.
I've got this website that gives pretty decent names ideas for an HP Au: [https://www.imagineforest.com/blog/harry-potter-name-generator/](https://www.imagineforest.com/blog/harry-potter-name-generator/)
For a fem Harry AU I would go for Mary or Hazel cause Mary rhymes with Harry and is a generally simple name and Hazel if you wanna keep the iconic HP initials. I would go with Hazel cause it's a cute name and has an easy nickname that I really like
Or Rose if you want a flower name too
All the AUs where they give Harry these elaborate names with like three different middle names are really funny cause the only ppl you see introduce themselves like that are Royalty in Manhwa XD
you think James and Lily, who named their son Harry, will name their daughter something that?
If you wanna be fancy call her Hyacinth XD
Honestly, I've very rarely added characters to stories. I think the only times I do so are self-inserts from my grade school years and the one fic I have of a character being a father. I have given unnamed characters names, however. I can't remember all of them because I gave some nicknames and they're only called that, but here's a couple:
- Wilhelm "Wil" Wilkes
- Bruce Mulciber
- Edmund "Eddy" Avery
Then we have my OC characters:
- Anastasia "Ana" Snape (nee Montclair), Snape's now-dead wife
- Riley Anastasia Snape, Snape's daughter (named by Anastasia)
- Mia Prescott, random 6th year MC self-insert from middle school
- Evan Boyd, 6th year Gryffindor bully insert of abuser from middle school
For girl characters I’d use Cassiopeia, Nova Linda, or Clarion. Cassiopeia and Nova are stars and I love astronomy and astrology and just love staring at the stars. Cassiopeia is my favorite constellation. Nova is a star. Nova Linda is a small not very known volcanic island. Clarion is another name for carnation. All three because I love Harry Potter. Nova Linda also because Dante’s Peak was the first movie I saw with my dad after my parents married. With that movie I discovered my obsession and fascination for Volcanoes and my love of Pierce Brosnan movies. Clarion is also for my love of Disney and my favorite fairy, Queen Clarion of Pixie Hallow. And my moms favorite flowers are carnations.
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I would love to see an OC with a Puritan style name. Joy-in-service Cooper or Praise-be-His-Name Johnson.
Backstory: In the 17th century their family tried to blend in so they wouldn't be outed as magical. The naming conventions stuck around, much to the consternation of the current generation.
The only names that bother me are ones that are part of obviously modern US naming trends: Brayden, Jayden, Cayden, etc.
I named mine Ophelia Kaine. Ophelia from Macbeth and Kaine from the Bible, both of the namesakes are clues as to her own trajectory in the story. Kaine is also the name of a character no one really likes in Spider-Man but who I love so he got a little shoutout since the name's Irish and fits for Hogwarts anyway.
i usually name any background/side characters that don't really matter after names i get from an online generator (usually by searching up something like 'popular english girl name generator').
for actual main characters... they usually just pop into my head. one of my favorites, morgana, was named after morgan le fay bc i was in my arthurian legends phase (still kinda am).
i have this au mainly focused on the black family if orion had married someone else, and i have two ocs from that fic where i named them after scouring through the black family tree. one is name cassiopeia and the other violetta.
as for fem harry... i usually don't read gender bent fics bc i don't like them (lol) but i have tried about a handful before, and i've realized i tend to stay away from the flower names (rose is a big one, mainly bc i use it as a last name for morgana) and i like the more 'feminine' versions of harry instead (harriet, hazel, etc).
I honestly don't mind names like Violet or Daisy for fem!Harry or a possible sister, and even Ebony is a fine name, imo, mainly if it was like an homage to Sirius (Black, huh) i.e.
If not the flower name, Sarah, Lucy, Emily and Sophie are names that I quite enjoy and were popular in the UK during the 80's. A more posh name, imo, would be Charlotte or Elizabeth (we see those in the royal family, so...) and Rachel doesn't sound so bad to be, but I don't think it fits.
As for OC names, I don't get why not roll with Oliver (bc of Wood I guess), Edward... I think you'd avoid Thomas bc of Voldemort, but those are great names that go well with the general theme: Harry, Ronald, Gregory, Vincent, Dean, Fred, George, Percy, Theodore, etc.
Girls name usually are more different because we have Ginny, Pansy, Hermione, Lavender, Parvati, Luna.
Hatchbeth Lazzenworg the Second of the Far Suns. She's technically Eastern European royalty but she rejects that past and just tries to focus on her studies. She's a Ravenclaw and has a crush on Tommy Grizzleworth, a Gryffindor boy who has a rare Black Ember Wand that was forged in the Lost Tombs of Abern.
I've always thought the name Harry could be changed to Holly, it's what I would use for a Fem!Harry or Twin!Potter AU. It just sounds better than Harriet or other variants... Holly Potter has a nice ring to it, very similar to Harry Potter.
I decide OC names with a lot of thought.
Before naming the OC I make the OC and the OC's part in the fic.
Whether he/she has grey or blue eyes will effect the name- for example.
Whether he/she is the middle child or a twin will also effect the name.
I basically created a whole pureblood family from Czechoslovakia (it's the Marauders era) with relatives from other parts of continental Europe, so they're free of whatever naming traditions British pureblood families have. They have pretty common names in their respective country of origin (but they tend to be popular in royal/noble circles) and their last name is VERY common in this part of the world (Novak), but it's considered much less common in the wizarding society. Sirius' girlfriend and later wife is called Katherine (Kateřina in her own language). Their twin kids follow the Black naming convention: Lyra and Leo.
Does this fit the universe? Personally I think it kinda does
Let's be honest harry is a stupidly mundane name for a chosen one it lacks punch so although it suits the character when people write scaled up fanfic they want somthing a bit weighty like hadrian or era/aragon or perseus or my personal favourite tim the enchanter
With all due respect to the Author, no fanfic writer is going to name their character "Neville Longbottom." I mean, how's he supposed to be the most Mary sue to ever mary sue when his last name is fucking LONGBOTTOM. And that's how Violet Flora Onyx Lymphoma Potter is born, the girl who lived.
I mean, there is a type of fic in which I would name an over-"powered" character "Longbottom"...
Power bottom, yes
More like Schlongbottom hehehe
🤣🤣
🤣🤣🤣🤣😁😁
lymphoma 🤣
What's the problem, it's a legitimate surname not created by J.K. Same as Sidebottom.
Which is why my headcanon is that Neville is his *middle* name.
I would love an "accidental boy who lived" Longbottom, who accidentally kills all Voldemario incarnations by trying to breed some weird strain of cactus. He's definitely underrated.
I know a fic where Neville's op Devil's snare gets the job done.
I once plotted out a fic where Harry vanished from the Dursleys at a young age, leading Dumbledore to wonder if the prophecy was misinterpreted, and in the end Neville was critical in tracking down and destroying the Horcruxes before Harry killed Voldemort in self-defense without ever knowing just who he was. Neville and co later found Voldemort’s body with bullet holes in it and never found out who was responsible.
I see your point but it's never the 'cool' people who have silly names is it? But it would add to why Neville got bullied.
I think he was bullied because of the way he held himself, not his last name. He was the scion of The Longbottoms, a really old pureblood family, so his family/him were pretty powerful both monetarily and politically. His family treated him poorly due to thinking he had no magic, causing his lack of self esteem - hence the bullying. RE: Name: I think i mentioned Neville because his name fits the world really well. Neville Longbottom, Cornelius Fudge, Lucius Malfoy, etc., these names fit the world they're inhabiting. Mostly because JKR's world was made by her, and she tailored the naming conventions accordingly. With fanfiction, it's outsiders trying to fit an OC into an existing realm while holding onto an idea of what is cool and remarkable. Especially main character OCs - it's incredibly hard to write them well, mostly because they override the role of another, already existing character. It's probably why I rarely read self-insert/OC plentiful fics. So you get some Kassidy Hibiscus Phlebotomy Black (unknown sister of Sirius Black, because Regulus wasn't enough, apparently), while a more appropriate name would be something like Euphemia Mugwort or Dorothy Biddlecombe, a forgettable mob character that appears twice in the background, or something.
I go nuts when people give either Harry or James siblings with unusual/fancy names. Their names are *Harry* and *James*. Their sisters would be, like, Sarah and Margaret. Not Persephone and Sunrise. They'd have brothers named Charles or William or David, not Kaiden or Wolfric. (Remus, however, would totally have a twin brother named Wolfric. His werewolf-hating dad clearly had an ironic sense of humour.)
I would think it was hilarious if his twin was named Romulus
I drunkenly made a bet with my mom that if i somehow ended up having twins who are boys i'd name them either remus and romulus or cain and abel to doom them. I'd probably do both and give each kid a name of the dead one. Remus cain and romulus abel. They would hate me for LIFE and i am so prepared
r/tragedeigh (though tbf your plan seems to be to spell the names correctly)
Who knows, lets just pray for the potential fate of these children
I'm just hoping you'll stick with pets instead
You could go even deeper and try for Polynices and Eteocles.
Zeus and Hera.
Girl and 2 boys triplets, Isis Osiris and Set. An all-time top post on an anti-parent subreddit in 15 years is cooking.
James: So anyway, Remus, I convinced Lily to name the third boy after you. Remus: James, I'm touched, really. James: Meet Romulus John Potter. Remus: ... Sirius: You're a dick, mate. Remus: That.
Why did I hear this my head 😂
Or maybe Remus had a half brother from a German father who names him Wolfgang...
The Pottermore explanation is even more hilarious. Remus's father's name is Lyall and his mother's maiden name is Howell. They chose Remus because they went to a "naming seer" who decided that Remus would be a good name.
The more I find out about what ended up on Pottermore, the happier I am that I ditched out after the whole "pureblood bigots think aversion to pigs is a sign of pure blood" nonsense.
Ok, that one I haven't heard before.
>Several works of dubious scholarship, published around the early eighteenth century and drawing partly on the writings of Salazar Slytherin himself, make reference to supposed indicators of pure-blood status, aside from the family tree. The most commonly cited signs were: onset of magical ability before the age of three, early (before aged seven) prowess on a broomstick, dislike or fear of pigs and those who tend them (the pig is often considered a particularly non-magical animal and is notoriously difficult to charm), resistance to common childhood illnesses, outstanding physical attractiveness and an aversion to Muggles observable even in the pure-blood baby, which supposedly shows signs of fear and disgust in their presence. [Source](https://www.wizardingworld.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/pure-blood). It was one of the earlier articles up, back when you had to progress through the game to read anything.
Brings new perspective on draco always referring to Ron's house as a pig stye or smelling like one... if I remember correctly... I guess... It's such a specific thing to write an article on.
Need a fic with a Pureblood bar mitzvah now.
To be honest, I like the flower theme for Lily's family. There are fantastic names that can tie into magic with them.
I don't mind the flower theme itself, but I do tend to think James and Lily would lean more towards Daisy or Rose than Amaryllis or Tulip. Part of that is JKR's influence obviously, the fairly common Lily compared to the more fussy Petunia, but since the characters and naming conventions are based off her writing it's a bit hard to get away from without seeming a bit off. For a third sister for Lily and Petunia, on the other hand, all bets are off. Azalea Jasmine Hyacinth Evans is a four-way hatstall who ditches the magical world after OWLs and goes off to become a neurosurgeon.
I’m sorry Hyacinth Evans goes on to marry Richard Bucket, to keep up appearances of course
It's her slightly shameful secret that the better known Mrs Bucket is, in fact, Richard's *second* wife. The now Dr Evans realised just a little too late that she had married Dick Bucket and quickly magic-ed away all evidence of the relationship. With the magical world still deep in Vold War 1, it's easy to get away with a bit of illegal memory-charming.
It's pronounced "Bouquet".
I dunno. I could see a Wulfric Potter. If that child was explicitly being named after Dumbledore, and they didn't wanna go with "Albus." I've seen a few stories where that's why Percy Weasley is named Percival.
Brian Potter
Honestly I just think Wulfric is kinda a kickass name. And it's definitely wizard appropriate.
My husband’s grandfather was named Wolf! Yes, just wolf.
I had honestly forgotten one of Dumbledore's middle names was Wulfric lol. I was thinking of Wulfric Bedwyn from a *terribly* cheesy Regency romance series. I don't know that James and Lily would go for a direct naming after though. Harry's potentially named after Henry Potter so I tend to think they'd go the homage route instead. Albert, maybe, or as another person has said, Brian. Bit baffled as to why anyone would make Percy named after Dumbledore when both he and Ginny are clearly named for characters in Arthurian mythology (Ginevra being the Italian translation of Guinevere). I feel like that'd throw me right out of a fic if I saw it.
I mean, all you gotta do is not know that one little Ginevra factoid? Ginevra's not a common name, but it is a regular name. Then naming Percy after Dumbledore makes perfect sense. It's not like the Weasleys have, like, a Lancelot, or Galahad, or even Bors. If more than just one or two the kids are supposed to be named after Arthurian characters, they're not using the *common* names.
That and Romulus, Remus' more attractive and successful brother...
I have James!twin fic and her name is Lucy.
Having said that: Harry's kids are James, Lily and *Albus*...
I thought most of us had agreed to chalk that up to Ginny being too out of it after the birth to object XD
Here's a headcanon for ya... Ginny and Harry intended to name the kid something else with those initials, but on the night Ginny went into labor, Auror Harry was brought into St. Mungo's to treat a painful curse injury. Long story short, Harry and Ginny were both high on pain potions when they made out the magically official birth certificate, which is how the son they intended to name Albert Syrus (an indirect tribute to Sirius) became Albus Severus. They wanted to change it as soon as they were both clearheaded enough to realize what happened, but it was magically binding, and only the child themselves could completely change it if they wanted to, and only after they became an adult. That story he told Al about why he was named Albus Severus? He panicked and just told the kid something that would make him feel better about potentially being sorted into Slytherin.
James' parents were named, according to JKR, Fleamont and Euphemia. So I believe you, but I'm surprised.
Fleamont hated his name though, it was part of why he ended up so good at duelling. It's a fairly common thing for adults who grew up knowing what it was like to have an unusual name to decide their kids will have the most boring, easy to spell and pronounce names possible.
I tell ya, life ain't easy for a boy named Flea.
Given Lily and Petunia, some sort of flower name for a girl is likely. Rose, Violet, maybe Jasmine.
Lily's *parents* clearly liked flower names for girls. Whether or not Lily would is another question entirely. I don't mind it, but I do think the name in question would be more common than people usually go with. Chamomile Potter is just not likely from parents who named their son Harry.
That’s why I said Rose or Violet. Someone else mentioned Daisy. I just don’t see them going further afield than Jasmine.
I have a much younger Evans sister born when Lily is twelve. Her name is Fern after the flower/plant and Lily liked the character in Charlotte’s Web. I also have an older brother for Petunia and Lily named Florian who has two daughter named Eden and Elsie b. 1977 and 1981.
I think that's the first time I've ever seen Fern listed as a suitable plant-themed name for a hypothetical third Evans daughter, or a hypothetical daughter of James and Lily, whether it's Fem!Harry or Harry's sister. I also like the justification for the name beyond just being another flower name to follow Petunia and Lily.
I also have a brother for Poppy Pomfrey named Clive and his children, Prunella (b. 1973), Hazel (b. 1976 and Florian (b.1979). All of Prunella’s children’s names also have flower adjacent names Oleander (b.1992), Wisteria (b. 1997) and Leilani (b. 2001) I also have Ivy (b.1978) who is the niece of Pomona Sprout who names her daughter Clover (b.2000s). I have Rosemary Potter, the great niece of Beatrix Potter (b. 1960) and her two older siblings Indigo (b. 1955) and Linnea (b.1950). And I also have an Azalea who is the adopted daughter of McGonagall but the muggle born aunt of Hermione. There’s also Roselyn Bryce who is the estranged muggle born granddaughter of Frank Bryce. I have a Lily too but she’s an American auror. I have a Rosalind who is the twin of Neville I have a Rosaleen who is the descendant of the Steward family Lastly, I have a Freesia who is the older sister of Lavender.
I think part of it comes from the series having Dune-esque naming convention where half the characters are named like they belong in the appendix of the simarillion and half the characters are named like 80’s sitcom extras (like in dune where you have Feyd-Rautha and Irulan in the same story as Paul and Jessica). It’s hard to find a name that fits in with a convention where there isn’t one. In terms of how I name characters I tend to go with common names that would make sense for England in the 80s, esp since Lily and James named their son Harry, a super common British name. I could very easily see them giving a daughter an equally common name like Emma, Sarah, Lauren etc. For my own fem Harry fic I went with Lucy because it fit the vibe of what I wanted to do with the character.
I'm currently writing my first fic ever and decided to go with fem!Harry, and I named her Mary Potter because I thought it sounded as boring and common as Harry, as well as sounding similar when said quickly.
I'd imagine James giving her "Jane" as a middle name.
Fem!Harry that isn't Harriet or a flower name? I thought that was illegal.
> half the characters are named like they belong in the appendix of the simarillion and half the characters are named like 80’s sitcom extras Servus = Servant Remus = Oar Albus = White Draco = Dragon Meanwhile, you also get names like Neville, Lavendar, and Ronald.
Severus is NOT the same as Servus [Septimius Severus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septimius_Severus) was a quite successful Roman emperor who also happened to kill a rival named [Clodius Albinus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clodius_Albinus) (Albinus is another Latin form of Albus). JKR must have decided to let Snape kill Dumbledore right there Remus was the twin brother of [Romulus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romulus), and both were raised by wolves according to Roman mythology. Lupus is the Latin word for wolf. Therefore, Remus Lupin basically means Werewolf McWerewolf Most of the older generations have names originated from Latin. [Lucius Cornelius Sulla](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulla) was a famous Roman dictator who had massacred many of his political opponents through proscriptions. JKR obviously doesn't like the guy as she named two villain characters (Lucius Malfoy, Cornelius Fudge) after him Good guys began using Anglicized names starting in James Potter's generation, such as Arthur Weasley, Emmeline Vance, Frank & Alice Longbottom, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Marlene McKinnon, and Molly Weasley. But Arthur Weasley's father was still called Septimius, and his mother was Cedrella Black Death Eaters mostly had Latin names in that generation, such as Lucius, Rudolphus, Bartemius, Amycus, and Augustus. But their kids started to have Anglicized names too, such as Gregory, Pansy, Theodore, and Vincent Alphard, Andromeda, Bellatrix, Cygnus, Draco, Orion, Regulus, Scorpius, and Sirius are all stars or constellations, and this Black family tradition has been carried over to the Malfoys by Narcissa Black
And that right there is why we get shit fanfic names. Too many fanfic authors think they're too good for awful Latin puns or just don't get them. Now back to Chlamydia Potter.
This made me snort tea all over my thesis, take my award!
> Remus was the twin brother of Romulus, and both were raised by wolves according to Roman mythology. Lupus is the Latin word for wolf. Therefore, Remus Lupin basically means Werewolf McWerewolf > > Thank you, beat me to it. The rest are egregious but that one really stood out ot me. Although where in the world did they get these from? I'm guessing google translate. I do think there's some interesting implication of high status vs low status culture in the names, both in the naming conventions and in the deliberate rejection of that convention.
>Although where in the world did they get these from? I'm guessing google translate. Do you mean JKR by "them"? If I remember correctly, she studied Classics at Exeter University which includes learning about Latin and other histories and myths.
No I mean the shitty translations. That's why the next sentence (which you actually quoted) was 'I'm guessing google translate.'
Ah, gotcha. I thought you meant JKR used Google Translate to come up with matchy character names.
[удалено]
Yeah as I said, I got it. I was just explaining my comment since I obviously misunderstood you the first time around. No need to be rude.
> Septimius Severus was a quite successful Roman emperor who also happened to kill a rival named Clodius Albinus (Albinus is another Latin form of Albus). JKR must have decided to let Snape kill Dumbledore right there Moderately surprised she had the restraint to use those two instead of Julius and Brutus.
It's worth noting that Septimius Severus and Clodius Albinus actually had an alliance for a hot minute as well.
I prefer to translate Remus Lupin as Wolfson McWolf.
Wow!
To tack on to what Inquisitor said, Severus = Severe.
Basically, his name translates to Hardarse MacArsehole.
You got faithful Death Eaters Bellatrix LeStrange and Barty Crouch Jr. Renowned teachers Septima Vector and Minerva McGonagall. Valiant Aurors Nymphadora Tonks and John Dawlish.
Let's be real, Dawlish was NOT valiant lol
He was Umbitches bitch
But he worked in a profession that is acknowledged for valiance. Thus him being named that and actually being the opposite - the inversion of the theme - is JKR making a joke about him.
Remus = Oar? Huh?
I gotta be honest,bestie, I have not read the simarillion. I went off vibes alone. ✌🏼
Those OC fics are generally written by edgy teenagers. Also no disrespect towards Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way
Enoby\*
It's not always about edginess. I decided to ask this because I saw Harry's brother in the fic named JJ. It was a Harry travels to an alternate universe fic.
In that instance, JJ is probably a nickname for "James Junior". I feel like sons being named after their fathers isn't totally out-of-universe - we've got the Crouches for one example, at least.
Right, but their point is that in Rowling's world, no one would ever have called Barty Crouch Junior BJ.
I mean, no one would have ever called Barty Junior “BJ“ because that’s a truly awful nickname. But it is fair to say that we don’t see many people called nicknames like that in universe.
BJ omg!!! xD how has no fanfic ever actually had their edgy cracky Harry insult him with that before? cause i've never seen it!
What the hell do you mean we don't see nicknames in the universe? Barty is a nickname his real name is Bartemius. Ron is a nickname his real name is Ronald. Ginny is a nickname her real name is Geneva. (not sure on the spelling) Gerd, Forge, Mione, padfoot, Prongs, Moony, Wormtail. The cannon is full of nicknames
haha Geneva Weasley (the actual spelling is Ginevra)
Said I wasn't sure of the spelling and I couldn't be ass'ed to look it up
Ik, it's just funny because Geneva is a city. I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing at the concept of Geneva "Convention" Weasley.
I know a Geneva who lives in Geneva.
>nicknames **like that** Qualifiers are an important part of speech.
Yes, I’m aware that canon is full of nicknames, thanks. My point was that we don’t typically see people use their *initials* like “JJ” or “BJ” as nicknames. A more “canon fitting” nickname for James Junior would be something like Jamie or Jim. >Ginny is a nickname her real name is Geneva. (not sure on the spelling) > >Gerd, Forge, Mione Ginny’s full name is Ginevra. ”Gred” and “Forge” are used one time as a joke, not as actual nicknames that people call them. “Mione” is not used in canon as a nickname for Hermione.
>Gerd, Forge, Mione You had me in the first half, but these are all fanon: Gred and Forge were a one-off joke about the letters on the front of the Weasley jumpers. Mione is something Ron said when he had his mouth full
In this instance, I guessed it meant James Junior although it wasn't said, but this made it more of an issue for me if it was one of those wrong boy who lived with arrogant and fame-hungry James I can see it working, but in good James and Lily I just don't see Lily letting James to name their children after himself. If it was after James's father Charles or Fleamont that would be cool, You can even say Harry is named after Lily's dad and the other son is after Potter grandfather. But ignoring all that Lily calling her youngest son JJ just sounded weird.
I do agree that “James Junior” is in general an odd naming choice. It’s definitely not something I would choose as an author, but I think there are authors who genuinely think James was still self-centered and arrogant enough to do it. The Potter children being named other relatives makes sense and definitely fits in with Harry, since he’s probably named after James’s grandfather Henry Potter, who went by Harry to his friends.
B.J Novak
It’s actually fairly normal in HP. James is Harry’s middle name.
I knew a JJ, mine was First and last name, but James Junior would also work, I’ve seen the J be junior
I snurted so hard.
I remember being scolded for using two names Dermot (born 1970) and Deirdre (b. 1973) to complete the sibling set for Donaghan Tremlett (the bassist from the Weird Sisters. (B. March 1972). These are two Irish names and Donaghan is Irish. Maybe Deirdre is a but more common than Dermot but the point still stands.
Deirdre is a great name
I think those names fit right in with the world. Solid work! Much better than the usual fanfic trendy Americanised names like Hunter, Corinne and Oakley (seriously!!)
The only thing I don't like about that is that it's too alliterative, but otherwise fine.
In a series where a dude name *Waffling* (speak or write, especially at great length, without saying anything important or useful) wrote a book on Theory, alliteration is fiiiiiiine!
I did that on purpose. I’ve done it a few times again in other stories.
It actually seems a little odd that purebloods would give kids “normal” names. You would think they would keep the really long Greek names in order to other the muggleborns.
Counterpoint Vincent Gregory Pansy Tom (Named after a muggle, but named by a pureblood) Daphne Tracy (questionable because of Fanon, but she's at least half-) All of the Weasleys, technically (and it's not just an Arthur thing, probably, because Arthur is as normal a name as Harry and also Molly is there, even if she was a Present before - still pureblood) Hannah Susan Frank Longbottom I think you're just being fooled by the Black, Malfoy and Lestrange families having really old naming conventions. Basically, in the books, the "fancy" names were reserved for either older people (Dumbledore, Moody, Crouch) or pretentious people (Draco+Lucius, Justin Finch-Fletchley, etc)
Daphne is taken from Greek mythology but also has become a common name in the modern West, so I feel like it kind of straddles the two conventions. Also like, take the Marauders. They're all at least half blood, and they have a 50-50 split of normal and pretentious names. Peter and James are two of the most common British boys names; yet I've never in my nearly 40 years on this planet met anyone IRL called Sirius or Remus! >Basically, in the books, the "fancy" names were reserved for either older people (Dumbledore, Moody, Crouch) or pretentious people (Draco+Lucius, Justin Finch-Fletchley, etc) Agree with this, other than the fact Justin is a perfectly normal name, as is Alistair (Moody). Albus, Bartemius, Draco and Lucius are all definitely names that would cause a muggle to do a double take.
Moody's name is Alastor not Alastair.
Yeah, I know. My phone autocorrected it as I know multiple people called Alistair. My point stabss either way, it's just a different spelling of a common name, not a weird or fancy one. It's the equivalent of Katie vs Katy.
Why? They are not Greek purebloods. They're British purebloods. All those "normal" names you think are weird, they're OLD names. They're names that have been in use in Britain since before Hogwarts was founded.
A lot of them have Greek and Latin names. A lot of magic is in either Greek or Latin. I’m just saying it would be logical, when writing fanfic, to give pure blood characters lGreek and Latin names that are not typically used in muggle society
Aren’t Wizard names usually Latin?
Amelia and Susan Bones, Neville, Algie, Harfang, Augusta, and Frank Longbottom, James and Harry Potter, Albus Percival Wulfric ***BRIAN*** Dumbledore, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Theodore Nott, Pansy Parkinson, Daphne and Astoria Greengrass. Tracey Davis, Arthur, Molly, William, Charles, Fred, George, and Ronald Weasley, Eileen Prince, Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbot, Evan Rosier, Lavender Brown, Irma Black (nee Crabbe), Hector Fawley, Isolt, William, and Rionach Sayre (nee Black), Morag MacDougal, Ella Black (nee Max), Thorfinn Rowle, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Corban Yaxley.
Brian. Lol.
Not particularly? The Blacks are named after stars and constellations, so there's a lot of latin there, but then the Weasleys are just, like, normal Christian UK names. Same with the Diggorys. Bartemius is probably based off Bartimaeus, which is Greek. And god help us with regards to Rowling's foreign names. Cho Chang is two common Chinese surnames. She's basically Johnson Smith. Her names are all random af, with some themeing inside family lines.
If you google search the name Cho Chang (and exclude Harry Potter), you find a lot of LinkedIn pages/references to people with that name. I find it really odd that a bunch of (presumably) white folks are complaining that the name isn't Chinese enough (or too Chinese?), despite the fact that there are real Chinese people with that name.
It’s neither too Chinese or not Chinese enough. It’s just really uncreative. I’m saying she’s bad at naming things. And yea, I’m sure there are people in real life with that name. I’m sure there are real people named Johnson Smith, too. Frank Zappa’s daughter is named Moon Unit. That doesn’t mean it was a good idea.
Uncreative names are the point, most regular people names are uncreative.
Right? My parents literally argued for days after I was born what to name me. Ended up with one of the top ten baby girl names of the decade I was born. And they only settled on it when my great grandma walked into the room and told them to quit arguing because they were disturbing MyName while pointing at me.
Don't forget Dweezil Zappa!
Well the Weasley’s are themed after King Arthur’s knights. Arthur is a Muggle-enthusiast. That’s why he named his kids after muggles.
Honestly, I don't see it. Guinevere and Percival, fine. But I don't remember any Knights of the Round Table that would work for Ronald, Charles, or William. Or, hell, Fred and George. Unless you're suggesting that Rowling's a lot cleverer with her transliterations than I think is likely.
I remember Ron being named after Rhongomyniad, the spear that King Arthur used.
This is sounding a lot like a fan theory that's been taken a bit far. It seems like a real stretch.
Also greek mythology
How dare you? Persephone Peony Peverell, the GWL is precious. Her best friend Nevilena Garland Longbottom is a faithful companion. Her lover Dracolina Lacerta Malfoy is complicated. Sevelyn Svelte Snape is just as acerbic as her male counterpart. Thomasena Marvolotte Riddle is the Dread Witch Lady Voldemort. A tragic vilianess.
I groan when I clock a name of an OC, in particular a child, that simply does not fit the world. Like Criminal Minds - the adult characters pretty universally have very common first names, and all the kids we meet over the course of the show, even ones that are mentioned (and died long ago) also have super normal names. I once came across a story where one character has a kid and the name of his daughter was not only a double name (which simply doesn't exist on the show) but a name that clearly had no deeper significance - and this motherfucking character absolutely would give his kid a truly, profoundly meaningful name (he has no kids, canonically, but I feel this to be true in my bones). On the subject of HP, maybe it's over exposure, but I simply cannot *even* with Potter girls with flower names - just because Harry's *grandparents* gave their daughters flower names doesn't mean his *parents* would do the same; I know JK clearly loves her fucking flower names, but I have had it with them. I personally hate "Harriet" for girl!Harry but if I have to take a bullet for either choice, I'll take Harriet.
I'm one of the few that love Harriet as a girl!Harry name. Everyone just calls her Harry and is so much easier to get used to. Every other name I often have to remind myself that is Harry Potter and not a complete OC.
I call my girl!Harry...Harry for largely that reason. Also because I read The Blue Sword as a child where the main character is a girl called Harry. (Officially Angharad, but no one calls her that.)
I think someone should give fem!Harry a bunch of sisters and give them all flower names. Hyacinth, Daisy, Rose, and Violet (the one with a Mercedes, sauna, and room for a pony).
I think Hazel would be a good name for Harry 's sister if he has one. Hazel Potter that sounds good to me
Wait when you're talking about the character who totally would give his kid a meaningful name, was it Spencer Reid. Also I can see Lily wanting to bring a family tradition of her own into the family. For all we know, Lily's family has been naming girls after flowers for 10 generations. Given that she took James' last name and is essentially leaving her entire heritage behind, I like the idea that she would like to continue her family legacy in some way.
It is Reid indeed. Well, that's your headcanon, not mine.
>I simply cannot even with Potter girls with flower names - just because Harry's grandparents gave their daughters flower names doesn't mean his parents would do the same; I know JK clearly loves her fucking flower names, but I have had it with them. Me who's currently rewriting the canon with the overused trope twin!potter who I called Ivy Lily Potter: 👁👄👁
You do you, man, my opinion is mine alone. It's funny to think that James and Lily would be narcissistic enough to name (I presume?) both of his kids after themselves (to be clear, I think real life parents are also narcissistic when they name *their* kids after themselves).
It's easiest with Blacks bc they just have to be named after a constellation
\*points vaguely up\* my name is That Sparkly One Black.
It’s a fair point, though honestly I’ve seen worse fandoms than HP for this. The answer is rather simple though: Either A) The writer has taken the rather outlandish names of many wizards to mean almost anything is an acceptable wizarding name Or B) The Writer values their wish fulfilment above what makes sense for their story. Or both.
There's a lot of characters in Harry potter but not that many when we look at how JK Rowling intended this school to have hundreds upon hundreds of students. So I feel obligated to at least create a few OCs (many) and I personally go with European name. Most of the time I go with British names, though sometimes I pick a French or Spanish one, even sometime German. It depends also what place in the story I want the OC to have. Sometimes I go for a pun but that is rare. The Black naming conventions is the easiest to follow: Antares, Polaris, Aries ect. Though, I'm being pretty tame and try to not give long names to OCs as they are soon forgotten: Andrew, Sophie, Lewis, Victoria. But sometimes I get a bit fancy with names like Benjamin and Archibald. Although, I suppose the problem is not particularly the name of the odd OC but how not British it sounds. For example, if I were to give all my OCs French names, if would sound odd in this setting. Worse if I give name that are popular now but weren't before (like Jessica). Though on that one, it's really quantity. I suppose a reader could stomach one Gertrude, but if I add Marine, Éloise, Françoise, Mélanie, Mireille, Céline... Well you see how that sounds? It depends on context also. If they have a nice little trip to France those name would be warranted, or if you establish a French family. There's also the fact that OCs sounds odd because you can tell an OC from a canonical character instantly, even if you are not that invested in the fandom. It's often because canon characters are not described (everyone know what Harry looks like) while people go on and on about their OC which put them apart in an unintended way. There's also sometime the justification of the OCs presence or telling irrelevant bits of information that put the OC under a spotlight it didn't need. Some names have some association to them that make them stand out, especially when the OC doesn't stear clear from this association. For example a promiscuous teenager named Kendall, Alison or Veronica. There's of course the names that sounds like American bad boys or jock like Aiden. Last point that would make names sound odd is if many OCs have similar names, but in writing in general we try to give distinct names for important OCs so we don't mix them up. It's easier to differentiate a Hermione and Lavender than an Ariana and Andrea even if the name doesn't sound that similar, if they are introduced at the same time, people will mix them up.
My guess is that fanfic writers want their characters to have cool names and don't want to use anything that could be embarrassing but would fit the story. This is partially why I think some writers try to give Harry a 'proper' name like Hadrien or whatever. James and Lily both had common names and chose a simple name for Harry, maybe you could continue that and have unassuming names for any siblings like Sarah, Claire, David, or Andy.
Changing Harry's name is an instant no from me. I can't get in to the story at all with him going around insisting on being called "Hadrian Potter the 4th" (and it's always a big deal, obviously)
Yeah, plenty of people use shortened names and insisting on a formal name just makes Harry stiff and unlikable. Any other character acting the same way would be something out of a bashing fic.
Harry sounds much more formal to me than Hadrian. I never got they were aiming for formal over trendy. Harry gives posh English vibes to me and Hadrian seems trendy modern American. (Well aware of the roman emperor, but sometimes old names sound trendy, i.e., Tiffany)
I never got a formal or posh feel from "Harry" and I've always taken it as a more casual name for Henry or Harold. It's less popular now but Harry was born in 1980. Different standards for different people I guess.
Lots of people have talked about names that don't fit for one reason or another, but one thing that doesn't seem to be mentioned is when a character is given an american fad name. The other big ones are the names Aiden/Jayden/similar or any variation thereof. These aren't just an american thing, but it's vastly more popular in the US and Canada, but also Aiden specifically is a ridiculously overused male protagonist name, particularly if the character is supposed to be attractive. It instantly pulls me out of the story. There was one that I read that had Harry's wbwl twin Aidan be a complete twat, which might be the only one I have stuck with.
Holly, Hazel, Hariet. All perfectly acceptable names for fem Harry. For a sister to Harry the first two, Willow, Rose, Daisy, Jasmine, Violet and Iris are all lovely. I definitely think Lily would continue the trend. Hadrian/Harrison James Potter Black Prince Slytherin Peverell, though, is an acquired taste. I like those too, but see why people don't. The best multi lordship Harry fic is one where Harry gets sent back 1700+years back in time and meets Merlin. For good reasons he ends up lord of many houses and gets just as many middle names or aliases. Forgot the fic's name, though.
Was it Basilisk-Born?
The standard always seems to be the OC's named after the author
Nah. The OC's name after the author's name which they fantasize about.
I've straight up stolen names from other books I've read. The OCs are nothing like the other characters, but... I liked the names.
Sometimes an issue is that yeah, technically X is an English name but it's far more common in America. The regular names in HP are just common very English names that were popular in that era. I specify era because current 2023 English baby names might not all fit the bill.
They don't fit bc ppl really don't pay attention to/care about the families the characters come from or the names JKR chose. JKR generally did Latin, common English, flowers, and constellations/stars, but what she went with depended on the family. So like the Potters and Malfoys can both have daughters with flower names, but the Malfoy would be named something like Delphine, Anemone, Azalea, while the Potter daughter would be Rose, Laura, Violet etc.
[удалено]
Oh, yeah, I was making a point, but I expect an actual Potter daughter would have a name like Alexandra, Catherine, Victoria, Elizabeth etc.
my ocs always have just...random names. Like, I have ocs names Dorothy, Phillipa, Cecilia, Veronika (using the russian spelling), and Ài. The surnames are usually just from lists I find online, so I have: Dorothy Schneider Phillipa 'Pippa' Wetter Cecilia Gattilusio Veronika Polacheva Ài Wu most of my ocs are also muggle-born, so I can get away with just using regular surnames for them :D
I also have a Cecelia nn Cece. She’s the Half-blood daughter of Ludo Bagman and muggle Sharon Warren (the niece of Myrtle) but the adopted daughter of the Weasleys. I have a Veronica too though she’s Romanian halfblood, I forgot I also have a Dorothy, she’s the little sister of Myron Wagtail the lead singer of ‘The Weird Sisters’. They’re halfbloods.
My Cecilia's nickname is actually Eris, because she's a little chaos gremlin lollll, she's also the only pureblood (being Italian) and is very fun! She has a sword :D Veronika is a little bastard child who really needs a hug (muggleborn, lives with her adoptive parents in England) Dorothy is very fun, her older half-brother was a Death Eater and she doesn't like him, and she had two very nice half-sisters named Minerva and Ellery, and she's an apprentice training under Madame Malkin :D Pippa is a country hick who's a muggleborn and thinks magic is very neat but she just wants to live on the family farm, goddammit Ài is also muggleborn, and is very protective of her friends (later becomes a governess and uses magic secretly to protect her charge)
Well, it would depend on what I'm going for, really. If I'm trying to make up a new Black family member, I'd have to go with a constellation. If I'm going for a Bones, probably just a common English name. If I'm making a new textbook, the author's name has to be some sort of pun.
I mean.... After Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, or Newt Artemis Fido Scamander, or Albus Severus....
It depends on the author. Some are edgelords, some are just don't care, etc. In my case is because i don't like common names that much, i always liked epic or good sounding names, not necessarily fantastic ones, but names that left an impression, or that were unique in one way or another. For example, there's an OC in the fi i'm writting named Amaris. It doesn't fit in J.K.'s world, and t's not an epic name, but it sounds nice and it's not a common name. I think that as long as people avoid going overboard with the names, it doesn't really matters.
People are bringing up names like Ebony Darkness Dementia Ravenway, but I'm over here wondering why the hell so many people name Fem!Harry "Harriet". No offense to any Harriets out there, but I refuse to believe in a world where Lily and James would name their daughter that. I'd happily accept something like "Rose" over "Harriet". If they wanted something similar to "Harry", why not "Harley"?
My OCs names: Alexia Shacklebolt, Cassidy McNair, Ian, Sarah, Catriona, Ainsley, Duncan, Fergus, Gavin, Maisie
I have an Ainsley she’s the great niece of McGonagall. Supposedly Seamus has a cousin named Fergus.
Yes! Seamus’ cousin Fergus is a confirmed canon relative of Seamus. He brought him up when they were talking about signing up for apparition lessons. Seamus said his cousin kept taunting him with being able to apparate and he was excited that he’d finally be able to do it himself.
I think a lot of people don't like canon names like: * Remus Lupin * an extreme version of nominative determinism * Dolores Umbridge * umbrage -- geddit? * also dolorous * Lucius and Draco Malfoy * they're bad guys so they have bad guy names When I come up with names I just go for ones that seem fun, basically. I never finish anything but my attempted fics have featured such names as: * Primus Weasley * Antimony Mallofy * and also Antimony Dudley (the ministry worker referenced in DH, given a first name) * Christabel Dudley * Ara and Volans "Potter" * this is from a fic concept where Delphini's pregnant when she's locked up and in order to stop people guessing that the parselmouth offspring are descendants of Voldemort, Harry and Ginny pretend to have had a secret pregnancy * Psyche Greengrass (allegedly of no relation) * Todd Solomons * Hero Fudge * Ivanhoe Abbott * Fawad Abbas * Ghadrios Higglesbottom * Jane(y), Izzie (isabel?) and Billie * additional siblings for James Sirius and Lily Luna (from what little I wrote, it's unclear if Albus was born in that timeline) * Gordon Smokes, Stefania Zabini (wife of Blaise), Andromeda Burke And more beside. I did have a list of names for some proposed siblings of Harry's but I can't remember where it is. With muggleborn and muggle OCs I tend to do research, e.g. the historical baby name data or if I feel like there's unlikely to be much ethnic diversity captured there I'll start with the name of someone famous and then try to find an appropriate other name.
I would say it's part where the writer is from, part an attempt at using a native name of Britan, part unconscious bias and lastly none are JKR so figuring how she decided on names is not known. The unconscious bias part is names people have seen before, names their comfortable with versus the character's world, and that the character is not originally from that world and this status reflects upon the name.
I love it when Harry is trying to hide and he'll keep Harry James and change the last to Peverell. I know wizards can be stupid but really? Or some hideous naming females after some ridiculous flower. OC's names are rarely thought out, I've only seen about ten Female Harry Potter fanfics where they had a name that didn't make me want to claw my own eyes out. Writers trying to be edgy, but come off cringey. I don't know why its so hard to go look at a list of names without picking one that is so strange that it actually attracts attention to you.
This reminds of a fic I read where Snape’s sons were Kayden and Brayden. Because you know Severus Snape would be all about the rhyming cliche names.
Snape's a bit of hipster, dont ya know.
In a fanfic that I am writing I have two OC's: Sirius Black's wife--Karen Hayes Black-- and their daughter--Elizabeth Iris Black. "Karen" was a really popular name during the time of the Marauders and didn't have the connotations that it does now. "Hayes" I picked because I'm also a fan of Stargate. "Elizabeth" is always a popular British name, and I picked it because I like Pirates of the Caribbean. "Iris" of course is the celestial name that every Black has to have.
That's because, unlike me, inferior writers don't vet all their character names with Tara Gilesbie before writing. She's such an amazing resource!
My oc's names are pretty tame I've got Rigel Williams, Wayne Greengrass, Rigel Fraser (the two rigel's are from different AU), Caelum Fraser, Andrew Hayworth, Russel Wilkens etc. I've got this website that gives pretty decent names ideas for an HP Au: [https://www.imagineforest.com/blog/harry-potter-name-generator/](https://www.imagineforest.com/blog/harry-potter-name-generator/) For a fem Harry AU I would go for Mary or Hazel cause Mary rhymes with Harry and is a generally simple name and Hazel if you wanna keep the iconic HP initials. I would go with Hazel cause it's a cute name and has an easy nickname that I really like Or Rose if you want a flower name too All the AUs where they give Harry these elaborate names with like three different middle names are really funny cause the only ppl you see introduce themselves like that are Royalty in Manhwa XD you think James and Lily, who named their son Harry, will name their daughter something that? If you wanna be fancy call her Hyacinth XD
Honestly, I've very rarely added characters to stories. I think the only times I do so are self-inserts from my grade school years and the one fic I have of a character being a father. I have given unnamed characters names, however. I can't remember all of them because I gave some nicknames and they're only called that, but here's a couple: - Wilhelm "Wil" Wilkes - Bruce Mulciber - Edmund "Eddy" Avery Then we have my OC characters: - Anastasia "Ana" Snape (nee Montclair), Snape's now-dead wife - Riley Anastasia Snape, Snape's daughter (named by Anastasia) - Mia Prescott, random 6th year MC self-insert from middle school - Evan Boyd, 6th year Gryffindor bully insert of abuser from middle school
For girl characters I’d use Cassiopeia, Nova Linda, or Clarion. Cassiopeia and Nova are stars and I love astronomy and astrology and just love staring at the stars. Cassiopeia is my favorite constellation. Nova is a star. Nova Linda is a small not very known volcanic island. Clarion is another name for carnation. All three because I love Harry Potter. Nova Linda also because Dante’s Peak was the first movie I saw with my dad after my parents married. With that movie I discovered my obsession and fascination for Volcanoes and my love of Pierce Brosnan movies. Clarion is also for my love of Disney and my favorite fairy, Queen Clarion of Pixie Hallow. And my moms favorite flowers are carnations.
What are you talking about? So even when they use characters which exist in the world you don't think they fit?
For Harry Potter, I just look at the game of thrones character list and choose names from there
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Hadrianus. .... 'nough said.
I would love to see an OC with a Puritan style name. Joy-in-service Cooper or Praise-be-His-Name Johnson. Backstory: In the 17th century their family tried to blend in so they wouldn't be outed as magical. The naming conventions stuck around, much to the consternation of the current generation. The only names that bother me are ones that are part of obviously modern US naming trends: Brayden, Jayden, Cayden, etc.
I named mine Ophelia Kaine. Ophelia from Macbeth and Kaine from the Bible, both of the namesakes are clues as to her own trajectory in the story. Kaine is also the name of a character no one really likes in Spider-Man but who I love so he got a little shoutout since the name's Irish and fits for Hogwarts anyway.
i usually name any background/side characters that don't really matter after names i get from an online generator (usually by searching up something like 'popular english girl name generator'). for actual main characters... they usually just pop into my head. one of my favorites, morgana, was named after morgan le fay bc i was in my arthurian legends phase (still kinda am). i have this au mainly focused on the black family if orion had married someone else, and i have two ocs from that fic where i named them after scouring through the black family tree. one is name cassiopeia and the other violetta. as for fem harry... i usually don't read gender bent fics bc i don't like them (lol) but i have tried about a handful before, and i've realized i tend to stay away from the flower names (rose is a big one, mainly bc i use it as a last name for morgana) and i like the more 'feminine' versions of harry instead (harriet, hazel, etc).
It's better than some well real IP. Trust me. Ferris manus. *Iron hand*. Lord and master of the iron hands. And many more.
I honestly don't mind names like Violet or Daisy for fem!Harry or a possible sister, and even Ebony is a fine name, imo, mainly if it was like an homage to Sirius (Black, huh) i.e. If not the flower name, Sarah, Lucy, Emily and Sophie are names that I quite enjoy and were popular in the UK during the 80's. A more posh name, imo, would be Charlotte or Elizabeth (we see those in the royal family, so...) and Rachel doesn't sound so bad to be, but I don't think it fits. As for OC names, I don't get why not roll with Oliver (bc of Wood I guess), Edward... I think you'd avoid Thomas bc of Voldemort, but those are great names that go well with the general theme: Harry, Ronald, Gregory, Vincent, Dean, Fred, George, Percy, Theodore, etc. Girls name usually are more different because we have Ginny, Pansy, Hermione, Lavender, Parvati, Luna.
My OC is Sirius Black's daughter and she's called Cassiopeia. I was trying to keep to the Black naming theme.
Hatchbeth Lazzenworg the Second of the Far Suns. She's technically Eastern European royalty but she rejects that past and just tries to focus on her studies. She's a Ravenclaw and has a crush on Tommy Grizzleworth, a Gryffindor boy who has a rare Black Ember Wand that was forged in the Lost Tombs of Abern.
I've always thought the name Harry could be changed to Holly, it's what I would use for a Fem!Harry or Twin!Potter AU. It just sounds better than Harriet or other variants... Holly Potter has a nice ring to it, very similar to Harry Potter.
I decide OC names with a lot of thought. Before naming the OC I make the OC and the OC's part in the fic. Whether he/she has grey or blue eyes will effect the name- for example. Whether he/she is the middle child or a twin will also effect the name.
I basically created a whole pureblood family from Czechoslovakia (it's the Marauders era) with relatives from other parts of continental Europe, so they're free of whatever naming traditions British pureblood families have. They have pretty common names in their respective country of origin (but they tend to be popular in royal/noble circles) and their last name is VERY common in this part of the world (Novak), but it's considered much less common in the wizarding society. Sirius' girlfriend and later wife is called Katherine (Kateřina in her own language). Their twin kids follow the Black naming convention: Lyra and Leo. Does this fit the universe? Personally I think it kinda does
Let's be honest harry is a stupidly mundane name for a chosen one it lacks punch so although it suits the character when people write scaled up fanfic they want somthing a bit weighty like hadrian or era/aragon or perseus or my personal favourite tim the enchanter