Significance of names...... again.

[Devika <devika@sas.upenn.edu>]

No: HPFGUIDX 52963

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Anne <urbana at c...>" 
<urbana at c...> wrote:
> Personally I think Parvati's name is just a "typical" east-Indian 
> girl's name. East Indians often name their children for Hindu 
> deities. I personally know two adults named for Indian deities --
> Joydeb (male) and Lakshmi (female). Patil is a very common east 
> Indian surname -- perhaps not as common as Gandhi, but very common 
> nonetheless. (I've heard that Patil (or Patel) and Gandhi are 
> essentially the "Johnson" and "Smith" of east Indian surnames.) 
> 
> If we're going to worry about what Parvati's name "means" in terms 
of 
> HP, should we also worry about what her twin, Padma's, name means 
as 
> well??
> 


I'm not much of an expert on East Indian names, despite having one 
myself, but I have to agree with you here.  I've known quite a few 
(unrelated) people of Indian descent whose surnames were Patel.  
Also, my mother's middle name happens to be a variation of Parvati, 
if that means anything.  I think that JKR was just trying to give her 
characters the names that people of similar descent might have in the 
real world.  The same thing probably applies to Cho Chang, IMO.

Devika (which means "little goddess" in Sanskrit <g>)