Harry Potter Names Significance

A blog dedicated to exploring what makes the names of Harry Potter characters suit them so fine. Mercilessly full of Spoilers! Every character and image belongs to J.K. Rowling. Analyses are sometimes founded on Rowling's word, but are mostly fan speculation.

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Millicent Bulstrode was a brutish Slytherin girl. When Lockhart attempted to conduct a Dueling Club class, she headlocked Hermione in spite of the “no contact” rule. She was also able to hold down Hermione when she became a member of Umbridge’s Inquisitorial Squad. Hermione once intended to take her form with the Polyjuice Potion as part of a plan, but she mistakenly used a hair from her cat instead.

Millicent is a name meaning “work-strenght”.

Bulstrode sounds similar to “bull stride”, which likely suggests various things about her: “she’s bull-headed, she’s as strong as a bull, she can straddle a bull, she strides away...” (quote)

Bonus: In Rowling’s “Original Forty” list, she was marked as a Half-Blood. (image)

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Magorian appeared to be the leader of the centaurs in the Forbidden Forest. Even though he wasn’t as aggressive as Bane, he distrusted humans and wanted them away from the colony. After Voldemort failed to kill Harry in the Battle of Hogwarts, he led a charge of centaurs against the Death Eaters in the Great Hall.

Magorian appears to be a name of Irish origin, derived from MacGowan, meaning “son of the smith”.

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A Gryffindor girl 2 years below Harry, Romilda Vane got a crush on him when his reputation as “the Choosen One” spread. She tried to get him by giving him Chocolate Cauldrons spiked with a love potion, but Harry ignored them and it was Ron who ended up eating them. She became upset when Harry and Ginny started dating that year.

Romilda is a name meaning “famous battle”.

Vane is likely a play on “vain”. She was somewhat conceited, even demeaning Neville and Luna when asking Harry to sit with her and her friends. Her attempts of romantic advances were also “in vain”.

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Voldemort’s father Tom Riddle Senior (left) was a handsome, aristocratic Muggle, whom he looked like very much when he was young. Voldemort believed that he had abandoned his mother because he hated magic, and that’s why Voldemort hated Muggles. Before he was 16, Voldemort took his revenge by killing his father, as well as his grandparents, Thomas and Mary Riddle. He framed Morfin Gaunt for it and used their murders to make his second Horcrux: Marvolo Gaunt’s ring.

Tom has this name because Voldemort was to be named after him. Also, there is a Thomas Riddell tombstone in Edinburgh, which people believe have inspired Voldemort’s name. (It’s in the same cemetery where William McGonagall is burried.)

Thomas is the unshortened form of “Tom”.

Mary is a common name, fitting with the Muggle family.

Bonus: Before Merope came along, Tom Snr had a girl friend named Cecilia. Cecilia is a name meaning “blind”, but we can only speculate if this was to represent anything.

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Neville Longbottom had a pet toad, Trevor, which was a gift from his Uncle Algie from when he first showed magical ability. Although toads are on Hogwarts’ list of allowed pets, Hagrid says “they're out of fashion”, for years now. Neville often lost sight of Trevor and, at some point in his 6th or 7th year, Trevor escaped to “join his brethren” in the Black Lake. “Both owner and pet felt a sense of relief.” (quote)

Trevor was originally a surname, from a Welsh place name meaning “big village”. Perhaps one thing that it shares with Trevor the Toad (other than a bit of alliteration) is that it sounds slightly dated for his generation. (info)

Bonus: Terry Boot was originally named Trevor Boot.

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Governor of the Wizarding Examinations Authority, Griselda Marchbanks is an elderly witch who ran O.W.L., N.E.W.T. and W.O.M.B.A.T. examinations. She must have been on the job for over 100 years, because she personally administered Dumbledore’s N.E.W.T.s (whom “did things with a wand [she'd] never seen before”). She was also one of the oldest members of the Wizengamot, but she (together with Tiberius Ogden) resigned in protest of Umbridge being appointed High Inquisitor, declaring “Hogwarts is a school, not an outpost of Cornelius Fudge's office. This is a further disgusting attempt to discredit Albus Dumbledore.” In retaliation, The Daily Prophet accused her of having “links to subversive goblin groups”.

Griselda is a figure in European folklore noted for her patience and obedience. The name can be interpreted as meaning “grey warrior”, which I can only assume relates to her (probably) grey hair.

Bonus: When Rowling published the W.O.M.B.A.T. on her website in April of 2006, she identified Marchbanks as “Professor Griselda Marchbanks, CDMG, APMO, fdBB”. (image) While the meaning of the abbreviations after her name is unknown, they usually indicate educational degrees, professional licenses, and special recognition (like the Order of Merlin).

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Auror John Dawlish (possibly one of the knocked-out men pictured) was faithful to the Ministry (even when Voldemort had secretly taken control). Throughout the story, he gets thwarted by his targets several times: he is knocked out by Dumbledore, by Hagrid, jinxed by Dumbledore again, confounded by someone in the Order, stunned by Dirk Cresswell, and eventually sent to St Mungo’s by Neville’s gran.

Rowling named John after John Noe, creative director of the fansite The Leaky Cauldron, because he was obsessed with the character. (source)

Dawlish is the name of a town in England, derived from Welsh meaning “black stream” or “Devil’s water”.

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A tall, intimidating employee of the Ministry, Albert Runcorn gave information about Muggleborns to the “Muggle-Born Registration Commission”, including Mary Cattermole and Dirk Cresswell. Harry took his identity to infiltrate the Ministry.

Albert is a Germanic name meaning “noble and bright”.

Runcorn is the name of a town in England, in the Cheshire county, meaning “a wide cove or bay”.

Bonus: in Rowling’s “Original Forty” list, there’s a girl with the surname Runcorn whose first name is still unknown (as well as her Hogwarts House and blood status) (image) (she was apparently skipped when the list was transcribed to Pottermore). Even though she was ultimately left out of the story, she could be a relative of Albert.

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Hogwarts’ librarian Madam Irma Pince is an irritable woman who looks like an “underfed vulture”. She can easily overreact if she finds students eating in the library or mistreating books. Some students (like Harry and Hermione) speculate she’d make a nice couple with Argus Filch. She’s also a big fan of the Frog Choir (but the library has to remain silent).

Pince might have been taken from “pince-nez” style glasses.

Bonus: Rowling said Madam Pince “sprang directly from [her] childhood fear of scary librarians. The kind who hate kids.” (quote) Also, “if they'd had a pleasant, helpful librarian, half [her] plots would be gone. 'Cause the answer invariably is in a book but Hermione has to go and find it.” (quote)

“A warning: If you rip, tear, shred, bend, fold, deface, disfigure, smear, smudge, throw, drop, or in any other manner damage, mistreat, or show lack of respect towards this book, the consequences will be as awful as it is within my power to make them.” —Madam Pince's note in "Quidditch Through the Ages”.

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When Tom Riddle poisoned Hepzibah Smith, he framed her House-Elf Hokey. She was elderly, and had had her memory altered by Riddle, so the Ministry was convinced that she was responsible for the “accident”. She was also the one who provided the memory of Riddle’s visit to Dumbledore.

Hokey is a word meaning “corny, cheesy, old-fashioned or sentimental”, perhaps describing her mistress’ taste. It can also mean “phony, as if a hoax”, possibly relating to how she was framed for the murder.

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After Death Eaters killed Rufus Scrimgeour, Pius Thicknesse was appointed Minister of Magic. Formerly the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, he’d been under an Imperius Curse thanks to Corban Yaxley, effectively giving control of the Ministry to Voldemort. During the Battle of Hogwarts, he was jinxed by Percy Weasley (who joked about resigning).

Pius was the name of various popes, meaning “pious”. “Piety” means “religious devotion”, but it’s algo cognate with “pity”.

Thicknesse is a play on “thickness”, which is a slang for “stupidity”. Thus, his name might be a play on “pitiful stupidity”, due to him being Voldemort’s puppet.

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Katie Bell’s friend Leanne witnessed her touch the Opal Necklace, but she didn’t know who gave the package to her.

Leanne is a combination of “Lee” (”clearing, meadow”) and “Anne” (“grace”).

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Mr Roberts is a Muggle who manages a campsite in Dartmoor (pictured), near where the 1994 Quidditch World Cup was held. He went through several Memory Charms a day by employees of the Ministry, due to the event. After the final, a group of masked Death Eaters levitated him around, as well as his wife and two children, and went around burning tents (“their idea of fun”, according to Mr Weasley). This occurrence was alarming for the Ministry, especially due to the reappearance of the Dark Mark.

As I said with Bob Ogden, Roberts is a common, plain type of name, which in this case probably reflects how the family were ordinary Muggles.

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Dumbledore’s predecessor as Headmaster of Hogwarts, Professor Armando Dippet was one of many people charmed by the young Tom Riddle, even granting him a “Special Award for Services to the School”. However, Riddle couldn’t convince him to give him a job as a teacher, as he was too young. Professor Dippet was very old, turning 355 years old in 1992 according to a newspaper from the films. (info)

Armando is a name meaning “army man”. Rowling might have taken the name from one of her students from when she taught English in Portugal, (info) but this is only a suspicion of mine.

Dippet might derive from “dip”, a slang for a foolish person (possibly because he was persuaded by Tom Riddle). Also notice that Armando Dippet shares the “A.D.” initials with Albus Dumbledore.

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In a bitter cold New Year's Eve, when Merope Riddle was about to give birth, she came staggering up the front steps of Wool's Orphanage, where she received the help of Mrs Cole in her final life hours. Mrs Cole took care of Tom Riddle, as well as other orphans, and was the one who informed Dumbledore what she knew: Tom Riddle was different from the other children, as a baby he rarely cried, and when he got older she started to notice that “nasty things” seemed to happen to children who bothered him.

As a surname, Cole originated from “coal”, but it’s also sometimes a short form of “Nicholas”. St Nicholas was the patron saint of children (and the origin of the story of Santa Claus), which would be appropriate for a children caretaker.

Bonus: When Dumbledore informs Mrs Cole that Riddle will have to return to the orphanage every Summer, she replies: “Oh, well, that's better than a whack on the nose with a rusty poker.” In Patrick Süskind's “Das Parfüm” (Perfume: The Story of a Murderer) (1985) a very similar character, Madame Gaillard, cares for that story's main character (and villain) Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, when he spends his youth in an orphanage. Madame Gaillard had been hit by her father with a poker just over the nose, thereby losing her sense of smell.

Bonus 2: In the mobile game “Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery”, there’s a Gryffindor Prefect named Angelica Cole. She graduates from Hogwarts in 1987, and goes on to join the Ministry, where she works as a Security Troll Trainer. It’s unknown if she has any relation to Mrs Cole.

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When Cassius Warrington replaced Adrian Pucey as Chaser on the Slytherin Quidditch team in 1993, Lee Jordan commented that Captain Marcus Flint was “going for size rather than skill” in the lineup. He was rumoured to put his name in the Goblet of Fire, and was one of the members of Umbridge’s Inquisitorial Squad. He was large enough to catch both Ginny and Neville, when Harry wanted to use Umbridge’s fireplace, but Harry’s friends jinxed and hexed the whole squad.

Cassius might have been named after the Roman senator known as the leader of the plot to assassinate Julius Caesar.

Warrington is the name of a town in England. I suspect it was picked for him due to containing the word “war” (even “warring”) in it, due to the Slytherins’ usual belligerent personalities.

Bonus: In the mobile game “Harry Potter: Magic Awakened”, there’s a Ravenclaw girl named Ivy Warrington (who has a sister named Winifred). However, their father is a Muggle; it’s unknown if they have any relation to Cassius.

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When Hagrid took Harry to the Forbidden Forest for the first time, they ran into Ronan, the Centaur. Hagrid asked him if he knew anything about the murdered unicorns, and although he’d shaken Hagrid’s hand and greeted the students politely, he wouldn’t give Hagrid a straight answer, instead giving mysterious replies like “Mars is bright tonight. Unusually bright.” and “Always the innocent are the first victims. So it has been for ages past, so it is now.” Although he is not as trustful of humans as Firenze, he appears to be at least more peaceful than others, pointing out that Harry and Hermione were still “foals” when the herd wanted to punish them. And yet, he was the one to lead the charge of the Centaurs when they decided to join the Battle of Hogwarts against Death Eaters.

I’m honestly yet unsure of the origin of Ronan’s name. But one possibility is that he was named after Colin Ronan (1920 - 1995), British author who worked for the British Astronomical Association (due to Centaurs’ specialisation in Astronomy). Colin Ronan also wrote scientific books for children, along with books such as “The Practical Astronomer” (1981), written for beginner amateur astronomers, and had an asteroid named in honour of his achievements.