Harry Potter names - tribute to Roald Dahl?

[Wanda Sherratt]

No: HPFGUIDX 76696

My kids were watching the movie of 'James and the Giant Peach' this 
morning, and I was struck by the name of the main character:  James 
Henry Trotter.  Could "James and Harry Potter" possibly have been 
named in tribute to Dahl?  I've always thought of Harry's muggle 
life as something straight out of one of Dahl's blackly comic 
novels.  His Christmas presents from the Dursleys - a toothpick one 
year, and a tissue another - could have come straight out of "James 
and the Giant Peach", where the poor little boy has to do all the 
work and his vile aunts give him a boiled fish head for supper.  As 
a result, I could never get into the sombre discussions about the 
sort of psychological effect Harry's upbringing would have on him, 
or if he's suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome.  His life 
is just too farcical in its blackness.  Yes, yes, I know that things 
that bad and worse happen in real life, but this isn't real life.  
It isn't even just a novel; it's a fairy-tale novel (or it was, in 
the earlier books) and I feel sure that Rowling meant her 
description of the Dursleys to be a black comedy, not a serious 
expose about the things that go on behind the doors of neat suburban 
houses.

Wanda