Charactonyms in the Harry Potter series

Charactonyms, or character names that reveal the traits of their respective characters, are standard fare for children's fiction. The same is true for the Harry Potter series of books, which contains dozens of charactonyms, as well as objects and concepts with similar naming qualities. Beyond naming the main characters with such deliberate care, J.K. Rowling took the same measures with minor characters, artifacts, spells, and nicknames. Although some of the charactonyms are glaringly obvious, many provide further insight into how Rowling envisions her characters and their inner natures.

Perhaps the most obvious charactonym in the series is Malfoy, specifically Draco. Draco is Latin for dragon, and Malfoy is derived from the French for "bad faith" or "unfaithful". As if being named Draco weren't clear enough, his last name begins with a word that means "bad" in half a dozen languages. Lucius, Draco's father, has a name that means "bright", but is also related to Lucifer. Lucius' wife, Narcissa (née Black), is clearly named after Narcissus or narcissism itself, implying the qualities of self-infatuation and egotism. According to the epilogue in Book Seven, Draco and his wife have a son named Scorpius, which settles in neatly to the family's typical name scheme. Given their surname, it is no surprise that the Malfoys come off as flawed, even evil, monsters.

Although less certain than the etymologies of the Malfoy family names, Voldemort's name carries with it intriguing possible interpretations. In several languages, parts or the whole of the name mean "dark wizard" or "evil", with "mort" meaning "death". In French, "volee de mort" means "flight of death". His given name, Tom Marvolo Riddle, has several potential meanings, many of them negative. Marvolo, his middle name (and the name of his grandfather), is likely based on the character from Twelfth Night named Malvolio, a servant who craves power and shuns others for being less "pure" than he is. Malvolio is teased and tortured throughout the play by the other servants in the household, and Malvolio swears at the end of the play that he will have his revenge. This vengeful nature, along with humble beginnings, may be the closest connection to the man who would later take the name Voldemort.

The negative names continue even into the muggle world, particularly with the Dursleys. Although their first names do not have necessarily bad connotations, the last name comes from a town in England that Rowling once visited and hated. (Knowing how universally hated the Dursleys are, Rowling suspects she is not popular in the real-life town of the same name.) Most of the other muggles in the books, which are surprisingly numerous, have generic or neutral names. This lackluster series of names could be due to the fact that most of the muggles play minor roles in the books, or just because one doesn't find many "Dedalus Diggle"s outside of the wizarding world.

Within the wizarding world, there are many younger wizards with carefully-chosen names. Hermione Granger, one of Harry's best friends and later Ron's wife, was given a unique first name that, according to Rowling, was chosen specifically to prevent many young girls from being teased (given the uncommon nature of the name). Hermione comes from several legends and texts, including Shakespeare, and typically refers to a strong female character with relationship issues; in one case, Hermione is believed to have cheated on her husband (like Ron believed she was cheating with Harry in Book Seven) and another Hermione was sought by two men simultaneously (like Hermione Granger was sought by both Viktor Krum and Ron). Granger is another word for farmer, which might be an allusion to Hermione's muggle origins.

Harry's other best friend, Ron Weasley, has a more direct purpose behind his first name. Ronald comes from root words meaning "advisor to the leader", which is often Ron's role in the books. He supports Harry in nearly every case, and though his advice is not always cool-headed, he tries his best to stand by Harry and help him through the various challenges they meet in and out of school. According to Rowling, the last name Weasley, a clear reference to a weasel, was chosen specifically because Rowling had always had a fascination with the creatures and felt they were maligned. She connects this misperception with the assumption that redheads are somehow unlucky or bad in some way, a sentiment with which she also disagrees.

Rowling's choices for other members of the Weasley family often include Arthurian legend; indeed, Arthur, the head of the family, is named after King Arthur. Ginny, whose full name is Ginevra, is named after Guinevere and Percy, full name Percival, is named after a knight of the round table. Fred, George, Bill, Charlie, and Molly (a Weasley by marriage) have common English names with less glamorous histories, though many famous figures from the past share these names.

As generic as some of the Weasley names are, they are bizarre compared to Rowling's plain choice for her protagonist. Harry James Potter, the titular character of the series, has very little history attached to his name (at least, specifically). Harry comes from the name Henry, whose root means "ruler of the home". James comes from the name Jacob, a character in the Bible who is the second born of twins and whose name means "holds the heel". Potter, a common English surname, was likely chosen because of its generic nature and possibly as an homage to Beatrix Potter, the famed author. Compared to Harry's friends' names, which are steeped in history, Harry's is simply plain.

The names of Harry's teachers at Hogwarts tend to be far more interesting than Harry's own. Minerva McGonagall, for example, is named after the Roman goddess of wisdom (many of Rowling's choices for names are inspired by or directly taken from Greek and Roman legends, as well as constellations). Alastor Moody, in addition to being often moody, displays the qualities noted by the history of his given name: Alastor means "defender of mankind" or "avenger". Aurora Sinastra, the astronomy teacher, has both a first and last name dealing with stars and their movement. Septima Vector, Hermione's arithmancy teacher, is defined by his subject as well; arithmancy is essentially numerology, and Septima contains the prefix meaning "seven", while Vector is a mathematical term. Charity Burbage, the muggle studies teacher, is constantly advocating for equality and fair treatment of muggles (which, some would argue, is quite charitable of her).

Professor Albus Dumbledore (full name Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore) has an origin story for each of his names. It is believed that his names taken together may represent the British Isles. Albus could be the male version of Alba, an ancient name for Scotland. Percival, as we know from the Weasley family, is the name of an Arthurian knight. Wulfric, meaning "wolf power", may trace its origins to the same roots as those of Beowulf, the legendary British warrior in the epic of the same name. Brian is the name of an Irish high king, though many believe that this name was chosen to function as a humorous "straight" name compared to Dumbledore's other more ridiculous names. Finally, his last name is an old English word for bumblebee, chosen because Rowling can see him "flitting about the castle humming to himself." Although the individual names do not necessarily reveal a great deal about Dumbledore, his lengthy and grand-sounding name certainly lends itself to his incredible reputation and larger-than-life character.

Possibly the most obvious teacher name is that of Remus Lupin, Harry's third year Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Remus is the name of one of the two wolf brothers that founded Rome. Lupin comes from the root word meaning moon. Even though the plain meaning of the name is never addressed in the books, Hermione eventually discovered Lupin's identity as a werewolf; one can only hope she at least got an inkling of an idea from his name. The only other prominent werewolf in the series, Fenrir Greyback, likely gets his first name from Fenrisulfr, a large wolf in Norse mythology.

Like Fenrir, several "bad guys" in the books have pointed charactonyms. Dolores Umbridge, for example, is hit twice with negative connotations: "dolor" means "pain" and the English word "umbrage" means "insult". Severus Snape, who is one of Harry's worst enemies for the bulk of the series, gets his first name from the Latin word for "stern" or "severe". "Snape", a verb in English, means "to rebuke or be hard upon". Given Snape's frequently harsh and overly-strict treatment of Harry throughout Harry's time at Hogwarts, these names seem appropriate.

There is one bumbling teacher, however, who also deserves mentioning. Gilderoy Lockhart, Harry;s second year Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, gets his first name from the word for "gilded", or covered in gold. This term is often used to refer to a worthless item that has been covered in a layer of gold to make it appear more valuable; considering Lockhart's sole skill, that of bewitching wizards to steal their memories and claim their adventures, he does seem to be "gilded" in a manner of speaking.

In addition to this vast list of characters, several objects or concepts were clearly named in a deliberate fashion. The term horcrux, meaning an object into which a wizard has placed a piece of his soul, seems to have its origins in two French words meaning "outside" and "essence". Hogwarts, the name of Harry's school, is said to come from a plant called "hogwart" that Rowling saw, though it is also possibly from the movie The Labyrinth, when David Bowie's character mistakenly calls his goblin servant Hoggle by the name of "Hogwart". The four houses in Hogwarts are obviously named, with the snake-related house being called Slytherin and the raven-related house being called Ravenclaw. Perhaps even less creatively named, Diagon Alley just simply a split of the word "diagonally", though pronounced differently.

In addition to houses and objects, many spells in the series are permutations of Latin or obscure English words. Spells like "obliviate" for memory removal, "aguamenti" for producing water, and "expelliarmus" for disarming an opponent all come from clear English or romance language origins (oblivion, agua, and expel arms). Others, like "wingardium leviosa", are dolled-up versions of English words, in this case "wing" and "levitate". The summoning charm "accio" is from the Latin for "I summon". More than half of all the known spells in the series come from Latin roots. The most-feared killing curse, "avada kedavra", gets its origins as the original pronunciation of the "real world" spell abracadabra. Rowling says that her research noted it meant "let the thing be destroyed", which, for the killing curse, means the casting wizard's opponent.

Like the bulk of the of spells, many of these terms get their names from English and Latin origins, although there are a considerable number with different histories. Several constellations and celestial bodies are turned into names (Sirius, the dog star, for one), and Roman and Greek figures are transmuted into teachers and parents. Though some names take their origins from mundane sources (Granger), others have more obscure and interesting histories (Voldemort). Despite the wide range in backgrounds and etymologies for the names and terms used in the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling clearly took a great deal of time to add depth and dimension to the characters that she (and we) have loved so well.

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[Many thanks to harrypotter.wikia.com for being so incredibly nerdy and exacting.]

Yes, I can take care of a dog, so get off my shit

I produce excellent ideas. I am an excellent-idea machine. People know this. My apartment smells of rich mahogany.

This is why I was surprised and dismayed at the mixed reactions I received upon announcing that I was seriously considering getting a dog. I have always been a dog person, despite having a cat and enjoying her company most of the time. When I was 12, we got a Beagle named Buckley. I don't really know how we ended up with this dog, but we couldn't really afford one and we didn't have a very good system for the family taking care of him together. I can only speak for my efforts, but I know that when it was 9 at night and my mom told me to take him for a walk, I dragged his ass around the block once and didn't care whether he went to the bathroom or got any exercise. The Dog Whisperer didn't exist yet, and I was a pre-teen bitch who cared more about herself than the dog. Unsurprisingly, Buckley didn't fare well in our house. He shit on the carpet sometimes and was generally miserable because we treated him poorly. Don't get me wrong, we gave that dog a ton of affection and hung out with him a lot, but we didn't make the connection between "dog chores" and his happiness, so he suffered. After probably a year we had to give him away because we sucked. Despite the myriad of other animals (dogs, cats, reptiles, fish) we owned while I was a kid, this is the one that sticks out to me because we failed so miserably. I knew that I was being selfish at the time, but I was 12, and a dick, so I just didn't care that much.

Cut to more than a decade later and I've decided, after years of lusting after dog ownership like some women crave motherhood, that I'm ready for a dog. Not everything is ideal: I don't have my own house, I'm gone 7:30-5pm Monday through Friday, and I already have a cat that will probably beat the shit out of any dog foolish enough to try to smell her or go near her in any way. These are all reasons to reconsider getting a dog, but to me, none of them are deal breakers. Not all dogs need big spaces, not all dogs freak out when left alone for 9 hours, and not all dogs have problems with or care about cats. As far as I'm concerned, my task is to find the dog that best matches my life and personality rather than just picking a random animal and expecting it to conform.

The couple of people I know with dogs seem to be doing quite well. My mom leaves her super-high-energy dog alone in the house all day, uncrated, and nothing bad happens. Will and Presh are gone for like an hour or two longer than I am, and Fidget doesn't give a shit. Dan's friends Rick and Melissa have a frenchie that stays home alone all day in a small apartment and he's doing great. Though it's only a few dogs we're talking about here, they are all totally fine being left alone while their owners go to work. While that might not work for all dogs or all breeds, it's not necessary to quit your job or hire a dog nanny just to own a pet.

As for the apartment thing, I'm looking at Pugs and Frenchies. We're talking low-energy, small couch potatoes here. Upon checking multiple websites (http://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/french-bulldog/care http://www.pugvillage.com/dont_get_a_pug.htm http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1607294/the_pug_a_breed_owners_manual.html?cat=53 http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/apartment.htm http://www.yourpurebredpuppy.com/reviews/frenchbulldogs.html http://www.barkbytes.com/profile/pug.htm), there should be NO problem getting a pug or frenchie to enjoy life in a two bedroom apartment, based on the apartment's size anyway. Besides needing doggy steps to get onto my bed, I don't really see any roadblocks here.

I can't really plan for having my cat get along with a potential dog, besides making sure that I still pet her after the dog's arrival and give her space to get away from it (which shouldn't be too hard with any dog that can't jump more than a foot in the air). My cat's MO with all the other animals I have ever seen her around is "I'm all set, see you later". She only has problems if a pet won't leave her alone. Luckily, unlike cats (Optimus Prime, I'm looking at you), dogs can be trained to do something. Like stay the hell away from the cat. As much as I would love for my cat and dog to cuddle all day and be bestest friends, I don't really need or expect that, and just don't want them to fight a lot. That is probably the only thing I can't plan ahead for or avoid with total certainty. I can, at least, choose only from dogs who have a history of no aggression and have been good with cats in the past.

I have done the research. I have looked at breed descriptions, listings for dozens of rescue animals, fosters, bred puppies, and even craigslist dogs. I have looked at what to expect for each gender, breed, size, age, and intelligence level. I know that pugs and frenchies will DIE if you leave them in the heat or don't give them breaks on walks if it's warm out. I know to clean their little adorable face folds. I know that they, especially pure breeds, will get problems like hip dysplasia and sometimes liver problems, in addition to all the respiratory stuff because of their cute little smooshed faces. I have carefully studied Fidget's behavior in multiple settings and with different people/dogs to see what he is like. I have spent two nights with a frenchie to see if I can stand the constant snorting and wheezing (I can, but Jackie and everyone else probably can't, so pugs are looking like the more likely candidates). I have lost entire afternoons of work to adoption websites and dog-specific wikis.

So when I say to a friend that I want to get a dog and their response is "yeesh, I dunno, do you think you're ready for one?" I want to go beserker and start windmilling everyone in the immediate vicinity. Am I ready? What am I, fucking seven years old? Are you my mother? I'm not the same selfish douchebag I was when poor Buckley needed to take a dump but I wanted to get back in time to catch the rest of SNICK. Yeah, I want a dog because I like the companionship of animals and it will make me happy. Maybe that's selfish. But I'm not such an asshole that I would take an animal (mind you, likely a rescue animal who has been through lots of bullshit) into my house only to let it crap all over the place because I'm too lazy to take it out. What kind of person do these people think I am? Do I come off as so irresponsible and so incapable of caring for animals that I would leave them to rot? It's true that I frequently leave for one or two days of the weekend to go to Dan's and ask Matt and Jackie to feed Prometheus. But she's a cat. She barely needs humans at all. If she weren't on a diet, I could honestly just leave double food and water for her and she would barely notice my absence. Thankfully, I am not a fucking idiot, so I know the difference between the needs of cats and dogs.

For those who have grave concerns about how I would treat a dog, yes, I would have to keep a full time job and leave the dog at home. My goal would be to acquire the dog in early summer (end of June, early July, depending on when Jackie and I move...that's a whole 'nother thing) and spend all day, everyday with the dog to train and get him situated. I plan to crate train the dog if he is of the personality that would benefit from or require that sort of thing. If he is not housebroken by September, that would be necessary. I plan to feed him food and provide him with water. I plan to train him to be nice to people, not jump on anyone, not beg for food (I'm looking at you, Will...watch yourself), and sit/stay. I plan to be good to this dog. Depending on where things are at with me and the dog after he gets settled, I might bring him to Dan's for one or two days of the weekend as I normally do by myself. Dan's building allows dogs and Dan already said he'd be cool with it. I would take the dog out in the morning (yes, even when I am tired), when I get home from work, after dinner, and right before bed. We would take weekend walks to the local park and entertain the local children with our family band. Okay, maybe that last part is unlikely.

I just don't know what else to say to people who give me the stink-eye when I say I'm getting a dog. There are millions of idiots, douchebags, and dickheads who do perfectly well with owning dogs. I'm not saying that having a dog automatically means you're doing a good job but, seriously, this shit is not rocket science. Dedicated, patient, consistent. I can be those things. I have been and I will be. It will be a lot of work, but so is everything else that's worthwhile. I am not afraid of hard work. I'm a goddamned high school teacher who has another part time job, half-time grad school, and a summer job that doesn't even wait for the summer to get started. I work hard all the goddamned time. I am capable of taking care of a dog. So get off my shit.