Percy's Name (WAS Re: Hermione's name; other names)

[lucky_kari]

No: HPFGUIDX 31281

Joyce Curry wrote:

> If you look at the 
meaning
> of the various names, Percy's name is the only one that does not 
have a
> Germanic or Nordic origin.  The origin of Percival, the name from 
which
> Percy is derived, is unclear.  I have found a few references to a 
french
> origin, meaning "pierced valley", but I have also found a few 
references
> that suggest the name was made up during the late medieval period.

Of course, Percy's name may not be Percival. Percy was the last name 
of one of the greatest families in England, and became a first name in 
its own right (not as an abbreviation for Percival) a couple of 
centuries ago. In that case, it might be more instructive to remember 
poor Percy Hotspur (whose real name, btw, was Harry Percy :) from 
Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part I. Percy Hotspur was definitely a 
Gryffindor, as we would put it, but a little too enamoured of natural 
law and order. (He cannot understand the new world the other 
characters are functioning in.) He's also quite vain, and ends up 
badly, dead at Hal's hands, and stabbed after death by Falstaff. :)

Eileen