Hermione's name

[hp_lexicon]

No: HPFGUIDX 31289

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Aberforth's Goat" <Aberforths_Goat at Y...> 
wrote:> 
> (See http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/wian.html and assorted
> mythological websites.)

Please ignore this reference. That's a legacy page left on the 
server that I had completely forgotten about. Ellie runs the What's 
In A Name website and it's far expanded since that version. She had 
at one time given me permission to include her information on my 
site, but then decided it would make more sense to keep it separate. 
I'll remove that page post haste.

I am adding more and more name references to the various Lexicon 
pages as I get time. I have intentionally not gone to Ellie's site 
for the information, just to be fair. The mention of Hermione's name 
origins are listed on the page about her, for example. 


> 
> Further, I'm not sure whether JKR has ever actually agreed that 
Hermione's
> name was originally derived from Shake's WT. I've run every 
possible search
> on my link page(http://www.geocities.com/aberforths_goat/), but I 
can't find
> any reference to Shakespeare in my collection of interviews and 
press
> releases.
> 
> [To be honest, I can't even find the interview with Steve's points 
1&2 -
> though I *have* read or heard them somewhere. I hereby offer a 
butter beer
> to anyone who can deliver the URL - I think it would be rather 
helpful if
> someone could figure out what JKR has actually said!]

It's from the National Press Club Q&A session from October, 1999. 
It's not available as a transcript, so I will have to listen to it 
again and write down the exact quote. If someone else has time to do 
that, go for it. I only have my notes, and I might not have copied 
it exactly. The point is perfectly clear, however. Sometimes I think 
we ascribe more deep meaning than JKR intended. We assign allusions 
after the fact which were never there in the first place. It's a 
nice parlour game, but hardly authentic. I'm not suggesting that we 
stop enjoying the game, but let's keep it in perspective.

Steve