Weird names (back on topic)(and off again!)

[nlpnt at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 12084

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Ebony Elizabeth Thomas" <ebonyink at h...> 
wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> These were the lengthened names we came up with.
> 
> Ron--Ronald
> Ginny--Virginia, Ginger, or something else with a "Gin" root (my 
handy-dandy 
> baby name book states that Ginny is a nickname for those two)
> 
I always thought "Ginny" was short for "Virginia"; "Ginger" is a nice 
possibility, however, particularly with a "Fred" in the family! As 
for "Ron" this is one more reason it's a Good Thing JKR is British. 
An American family having a son named "Ronald", and born in 1980/81 
says more about the parents' politics than anything else!
> 
> One of my major pet peeves in fanfiction is that I *hate* when 
writers 
> misspell canon names.  I will NOT read fanfics by or 
starring "Hermoine".  

I know a woman named "Hermoine"! Her parents wanted to name 
her "Hermione" (decades before HP), but the DOCTOR misspelled it on 
the birth certificate. I also have a cousin named "Bennjamin" because 
his mother was left to fill the certificate out herself, still on 
painkillers from the delivery, and put the first "n" down twice when 
she was distracted.
 BTW, I've also met an elderly gentleman named Ronald Macdonald. He 
said that he's been told many times that he should do commercials for 
Burger King.