Harry’s back! The latest Harry Potter film has finally been released and I can’t wait to see it…I’m counting down the hours. While waiting for the release, I’ve been sorting through character names and picking out some of my favorites.
J. K. Rowling isn’t just a great writer, she’s a brilliant namer. In the Harry Potter series, she mixed in mainstream names like HARRY and RON with unique names like HERMIONE and LUNA, very unusual names like SIRIUS and SEVERUS and then truly off-the-wall names like HELIOTROPE, KENNILWORTHY and MUNDUNGUS. For a name nerd like myself, it made for great fun while reading the books.
Today we’ll look at witches and tomorrow we’ll check out the wizards. J
WITCHES
AMELIA Bones
ANDROMEDA Black
APPOLINE Delacour
ARABELLA Figg
ARAMINTA Meliflua
ARTEMISIA Lufkin
ASTORIA Greengrass
AUDREY Weasley
AUGUSTA Longbottom
AURORA Sinistra
BELLATRIX Black
BELVINA Burke
CALLIDORA Black
CARLOTTA Pinkstone
CASSIOPEIA Black
CATRIONA McCormack
CELESTINA Warbeck
CHO Chang
DAISY Dodderidge
DAPHNE Greengrass
DEMELZA Robins
DRUELLA Black
DYMPHNA Furmage
ELLADORA Black
ELSIE Prod
EMMELINE Vance
FIFI LaFolle
FLEUR Delacour
GALATEA Merrythought
GINEVRA “GINNY” Weasley
GRETA Catchlove
GRISELDA Marchbanks
HELGA Hufflepuff
HELIOTROPE Willis
HEPZIBAH Smith
HERMIONE Granger
HESTIA Jones
HONORIA Dumbledore
IGNATIA Wildsmith
ISLA Black
LAVENDER Brown
LILY Potter
LISETTE de Lapin
LUCRETIA Prewett
LUNA Lovegood
LYSANDRA Black
MAGENTA Comstock
MAISIE Cattermole
MARIETTA Edgecombe
MELANIA Black
MINERVA McGonagall
MIRABELLA Plunkett
MIRANDA Goshawk
MOLLY Weasley
MUSIDORA Barkwith
NARCISSA Black
NYMPHADORA Tonks
OLIVE Hornby
OLYMPE Maxime
ORLA Quirke
PADMA Patil
PANSY Parkinson
PARVATI Patil
PENELOPE Clearwater
PERPETUA Fancourt
PETUNIA Dursley
POMONA Sprout
POPPY Pomfrey
ROMILDA Vane
ROSE Weasley
ROWENA Ravenclaw
SACHARISSA Tugwood
SEPTIMA Vector
SYBILL Trelawney
URSULA Flint
VIOLETTA Black
SOURCE: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Harry_Potter_characters
There are so many fun names on this list it’s hard to narrow it down to a few favorites. But after a lot of careful deliberation, I came up with these faves: CELESTINA, LAVENDER, OLIVE and VIOLETTA. This is a loose list and I could easily have added several more, like AURORA, CALLIDORA, MAGENTA, MINERVA, ORLA and PENELOPE (love PENNY as a nickname).
Honorable Mention: MUSIDORA. I absolutely love this name, but would never be so bold as to use it for a baby. Anyone else out there like MUSIDORA or is it just me? I find the musical quality of the name very attractive.
Anyhow, that’s all for today. Check back tomorrow for wizard names.
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♥ Amanda
If you have baby name questions for me, email me at amanda@amandabarden.com.
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For more information on baby names and their meanings check out
BABY NAMES MADE EASY: THE COMPLETE REVERSE-DICTIONARY OF BABY NAMES
I just read that Diablo Cody and her husband are expecting their first baby. Congratulations to the lucky family!
