Possible Lestrange & Names

[bboy_mn]

No: HPFGUIDX 42996

This is more of a general comment-

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "sophineclaire" <metal_tiara at h...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "nicolasixisme" <nicola_six at h...> wrote:
> > Hello all.
> > 
> > Since JKR takes inspiration from so many quarters, I wonder 
> > if there  isn't a connection between the Lestranges and the 
> > central character of  Gladys Mitchell's novels. The character 
> > is a curiously amoral witch  named Beatrice Adela Lestrange 
> >Bradley:
> > 
> 
> 
> I'm currently in the process of reading Henry James novel 
> " Portrait of a Lady" and while I was skimming through it one 
> day I saw a couple of names that made me think of Harry Potter; 
> Rosier and Pansy.
>
> As I said I'm in the process of reading "portrait" and have yet 
> to really be introduced to these characters, but I since JKR said 
> that she loved reading Jane Austen and the like, I wouldn't be 
> surprised if she was used the names of the character from those 
> novels as a connection to their personalities or as a tribute to 
> the novels that she so enjoyed.
>
> -sophineclaire
> Who thinks Snape is a combination of Heathcliff and Mr. Darcy if 
> she does say so herself.

Just a general comment about names. I know there are a lot of people
here who are authors themselves, and I think (hope) they will back me
up  on this.

Trying to find good names for your story characters is not an easy
task. It would seem easy. I mean how hard could it be? Trust me it's
hard, and most authors use the same basic techniques that JKR did;
maps (I've done that), telephone books (I've done that),  I needed a
Irish name so I research Irish poet on the net, needed a Russian name
so I research Russian poets and authors; even then I really didn't
come up with a full set of names. In this case, I needed 7 names for
Quidditch players. Sounds so easy, but I'm still struggling with the
7th name and am only marginally satisfied with the 6th name. One of
the other characters in my story is named after a pack of cigarettes
(Dunhill). I check international baby name website, historical and
contemporary surname archives. Dispite all that, what I do hardly
amounts to anything compared to the depth and breadth of what Rowling
accomplishes.

I am thoroughly impressed by how knowledgable and educated JKR is, and
to have done so much research and to have given so much significants
to  so many characters name is ....well, like I said ... thoroughly
impressive.

Like -
Did you know St. Mungo is the partron saint of Glasgow, Scotland.
Hummmmm.... I wonder if that means St. Mungo's Hospital is in Glasgow?
Did you know the Hermes (Percy's owl) is also the name of one of the 3
greatest sorcerers of Merlin's time (at least according to one authors
account in THE BOY APPRENTICED TO AN ENCHANTER by Padric Colum 1920
http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/columboy.htm ). Plus, everyone of
her magical creatures, to the best of my knowledge, is real; well,
real in the mythical sense. 

But I'm straying from my point. JKR has said that she has a habit of
collecting names. So, it is a never ending life long work for her.
Where ever she goes if she sees an interesting name, she makes note of
it on the off chance that she might need it for a characters name.

I guess the only real point to all this rambling, is to say that while
I find JKR's writing style to be very efficient and compact, at the
same time I am blown away by the intellectual force that backs up that
writing.

Just rambling, sorry.

bboy_mn