Neville: Extremely out there speculation...

[princess_sara_r at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 29426

Well...I read somewhere that JKR picked the name Harry Potter b/c the 
last name was a name of a family on the street where she grew up (and 
she liked the way it sounded) and she was fond of the first name 
Harry, thus Harry Potter. I also think that she wanted her main 
character to have a "normal" name, so insinuate that he was an 
average everday boy who suddenly had wonderful things happen. Much 
like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory...
Compare the name "Potter" to Malfoy and other Slytherin names. Crabbe 
and Goyle sound so ancient and evil!! Potter, Weasley and Granger 
however, sound very much like modern English names. 

I believe that she had a picture of a character in her head before 
she began writing the books and picked their names based on things 
around her. For all we know, Neville may have been a child at her 
kid's daycare or at the park. It just happened to fit the character 
she wanted described. Neville would not be the same if his name was 
Steven or Michael would he??

princess_sarah

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., kidzero7 at y... wrote:
> I'm not entirely sure which writers have inspired JKR, but looking 
at 
> one author has sparked wild speculation. I've always been curious 
to 
> how she decided upon the name Neville. The only place I've found it 
> used in literature is here..
> 
> In 1954, Richard Matheson published "I Am Legend". This book went 
on 
> to inspire many film makers and spawned such movies as "Last Man on 
> Earth" (1964, Vincent Price), "Omega Man" (1971, Charlton Heston) 
> and  "Night of the Living Dead." It has also been ver influential 
to 
> Stephen King.
> 
>