[HPforGrownups] Harry's Middle Name

[Terri Lyn Layman]

No: HPFGUIDX 33411

  a.. ----Original Message-----
  From: Liessa [mailto:harper_liessa at yahoo.co.uk]
  Ron Yu wrote:

  >This one's not exactly discussion material, but I just
  >want to point out that unless I am mistaken and middle
  >names mean a different thing in Britain, or Lily and
  >Petunia's maiden name is James, I think what JKR
  >intends to tell us when she said that 'James' is
  >Harry's middle name, is that 'James' is part of
  >Harry's given name -- a second-name or
  >whatchamacallit. Harry's full name is clearly Harry
  >James Evans Potter, with Evans as his middle name, not
  >James. Where I live, at least, the mother's maiden
  >name is the child's middle name. Just correct me if
  >I'm wrong somewhere in my reasoning.

   . Its not usually the case in the UK that the mothers maiden name appears
anywhere   in a childs name, at least I've never heard of it.  My 'middle
name' for instance is my grandmothers name (Dorothy), my brothers is James
after my father.  There are cases where the mothers maiden name is
hyphenated onto the surname (eg Evans-Potter), but as far as I know over
here thats as far as the maiden name usage goes.  I could be wrong though.

  Liessa

I know that not all places practice the same naming conventions.  It's been
mentioned that several Asian cultures have the family name/names then the
given name.  I know hispanic culture has several family names in the full
name.  I myself, could have followed the normal American custom of simply
dropping my last name when I married, then taking his.  However, I just
added his name to my own.  I didn't see any point in completely changing
things.  My first (given) name is of religous orgin (in context with my
father's family's tradition), and my middle name is from a beloved family
member (as was my mother's custom).  My step-sister has her families
tradition of the mother/father's first name being their middle name.  It all
varies.

This may not directly address issues in HP.  However, it is key in realizing
that just because there's a "Layman" mentioned in two different houses, that
it may not be a misprint, or even a relation.  I just think that when
there's the discrepancy over "Fawcett", that it could be two different girls
discussed entirely.

I'd not worry over it too much.

-TerriLyn


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