[HPforGrownups] The Sacred Power in your name

[Neil Ward]

No: HPFGUIDX 1218

At the risk of pressing one of Penny's buttons, I have to agree that, as
well as being a name in its own right, Harry is a shortened form of both
Harold and Henry, at least in the UK.

Without leafing through 'Meanings of Names' books, I'd suggest that Harry is
an 'official', established shortening of Henry, because it isn't immediately
obvious - a bit like shortening Richard to Dick or William to Bill. You
couldn't guess at those nicknames they weren't commonly used.  

Harry and Hal are both shortened forms of Harold in a more colloquial sense,
arising from the fact that people - especially those with certain dialects -
often shorten names to one syllable or extend them with a 'y' as indicator
of familiarity.  I used to work with this guy who was such a trueblood
Cockney that he never ceased to remind us all that he was "born within the
sound of Bow Bells".  He would call myself and my colleagues thus:
Sheila=She, Maureen=More, Peter=Pete, Bradley=Brad, Ivan=Ive, Hilary=Hill,
Neil=Nee.  Sometimes he would call me Neily, and Mark would get called
Marky, Ann would be Anny and Dick would be Dicky (or Richard).  It was in
his nature to change our given names in some way to indicate that we were
his friends, that we had built up a rapport.  His own name was Ted, short
for Edward. 

Another point to mention on the name Harry is that the word 'harry' means
"to ravage or despoil" or "to harrass or worry" and is derived from the old
English 'here', meaning "army".  Don't worry I'm not brewing up a 'Harry is
evil' theory, but if we turn those phrases against Voldemort, I think it's
safe to say that he was ravaged or destroyed by the infant Harry.  All the
evidence suggests that Harry is a powerful wizard, with the capability to do
great damage, but with the morality to control that potential.

The word 'potter', apart from meaning someone who makes pots, is the
equivalent of the US word 'putter', meaning to dabble in something, dawdle,
fritter one's time or amble about, amiably, doing something.  I won't
attempt to read much into that, but record it here for posterity.

My final point is that I agree with Penny: our Harry is just 'Harry'.  He's
not a Harold or a Henry or a Harrison or a Hare Krishna disciple.

Neil

            Flying-Ford-Anglia

 *****************************************

   "Then, dented, scratched and steaming, 
   the car rumbled off into the darkness, 
   its rear lights blazing angrily"

 [Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets]

 *****************************************