Sometimes things just have to smack me upside the head.......

[Geoff Bannister]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Kathi" <sassykat1121963 at ...> wrote:
>
> I'm re-reading the series again (I can't even tell you how many times I've done this).  Sometimes I wonder how she came up with the character's names.  Hermione isn't exactly a mainstream name, as a matter of fact, the only other time I ever heard that name was the British actress Hermione Gingold.  As far as the children in the books, other than Hermione, they all have pretty normal names.  It's when she gets to the adults that her imagination runs away with her.  
> Anyway, I got a lightning strike in the brain as I was reading GOF the other day. And it concerned Sirius Black.
> 
> Sirius Black is an unregistered Animagus.  He transforms into a black dog.  
> Sirius is also the name for the Dog Star.  I just wondered if anyone else had made that connection.  
> 
> You probably have, but for some reason, the first 50 times I read it, I never realized it.

Geoff:
It has indeed been raised frequently. Don't forget that astronomical names 
are common in the Black family and relatives - Regulus, Draco, Bellatrix and 
Andromeda spring immediately to mind.

I did mention Hermione Gingold as another "owner' of the name way, way back... marvellous actress.