re Weasley's "missing child" and Ron's and Molly's names

[Joyce Curry]

No: HPFGUIDX 37357

Hello all,

Jo Serenadust wrote
I'm not saying that the Weasley's may not have had a reason to stop
having children for a period during Voldemort's reign of terror, but
so far I've seen no evidence to support the loss of a child in this
period.

It seems to me that if there is such a gap between Charlie and Percy,
that the most likely explanation lies with what was going on during that
period.  Who would want to have children while supreme evil seems to be
rising?  Perhaps Arthur and Molly were not always living together during
that period so opportunities to create more children were few and far
between.  Historically, birth rates drop when  a society is going
through great stress.  For instance, during the Great Depression in the
United States, many families delayed childbirth as much as they possibly
could.  The same happened in various European countries during WW II.
Following WW II, there were baby booms in the US and to a lesser degree,
Europe.  The possibility that Molly and Arthur chose not to have
children while Voldemort was rising should be considered.  Which also
makes one wonder why they began to have more children BEFORE Voldemort
was vanquished.  Did they have more hope for some reason we don't yet
know?

As for Ron's name, last fall I did some research on the Weasley family
names.  The name "Ronald" has a very noble history.  Most of the sources
I found give the meaning of Ronald as "powerful authority" or "advice
ruler".  So even if Ronald is not the name of an English king, it is
still a noble name.  Also, there are some that say the Ronald is derived
from the Norse name Ragnvald, who was a Norse king.  And if my memory
serves me, one of William the Conqueror's ancestors was Hrolfe
Ragnvaldsson.

Molly was a very common nickname in the US for Mary until the end of the
1800's.  Those of us who do genealogical research have to be on the
lookout whenever we encounter a "Molly" in our families.  A family might
have called her "Molly" but everything she ever signs or attests to is
as "Mary".  Records need to be checked very carefully to prevent
overlooking those "Marys" who are called "Molly" by everyone except
lawyers, clergymen, courts and official records.

Keep up the name discussions.  I always enjoy a good dissection of a
name.

Joyce C.




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