Naming Schemas (was Missing Weasley Children?)

[saintbacchus]

No: HPFGUIDX 37256

Athena posits a Weasley naming scheme - pardon the
snippage:

<<
I have more than just the large gap between Bill,
Charlie and Percy to back up the thought that there
was a child (son) who has died.

Arthur

Bill
Charlie
David?
Percy
Fred
George

This scenario would allow for enough subterfuge for
JKR to provide cover that Ron was actually the
Seventh Son who by legend is destined to be
prophetic. If she had named Percy - "Edward" and if
Ron was "Howard," the alphabetizing and gap would
have been very obvious. Too obvious for JKR.
>>

I really like this theory, but two points bother me:

1) Aside from the Weasleys, we've got "Padma and
Parvati," "Albus and Aberforth," "Colin and Dennis"
and "Lily and Petunia." The first two are
alliterative, the third alphabetical, and the fourth
themed. So far, none of those pairings has been
significant, which makes me wonder why this one
would be.

2) While I am totally with you that middle names are
often used as first names (my own cousin, Guy Patrick,
is known as Patrick), middle names have never come up
in the books before.

And, although it's not really a point of contention
with this theory, I tend to think that if anybody has
had miscarriages, it's Petunia. 'Course, I also like
to heap misery upon her, but that's beside the point.


Meanwhile, all this to-do about naming has given me
my OWN theory! Mwa ha ha!

Okay, so someone is going to find "late in life" that
they are magical, right? The frontrunners for this
endowment would seem (to me) to be Petunia and Filch.
I think it's going to be Petunia. My boyfriend thinks
it's going to be Filch. He also laughed at me when I
presented this theory, but I'd like to know what you
all think.

So far, we've seen six sets of siblings
(let me know if I missed any):

1) Padma & Parvati Patil
2) Albus & Aberforth Dumbledore
3) Colin & Dennis Creevy
4) The Weasleys

Now, as noted above, all of these names fit some sort
of pattern. And all of these sets of siblings are
magical. *Wholly* magical. But there are two more pairs:

5) Lily & Petunia Evans
6) Marjorie & Vernon Dursley

Majorie and Vernon are Muggles, and they don't match.
Lily and Petunia match, but as for their magical
powers...well, that remains to be seen, but I think
you all see where I'm going with this.

OTOH, it could just be that the entire Wizarding World
(and one set of Muggles) is obsessed with giving their
children cute matching names. Personally, I think Mr.
& Mrs. Dursley showed a bit of taste and restraint in
giving their children names that match in an un-cutesy way.

--Anna