OOP: Flower Names

[Jennifer Boggess Ramon]

No: HPFGUIDX 66321

At 8:19 PM +0000 6/30/03, tigerpatronus wrote:
>
>Could someone consult the OotP and see if it
>*says* they were sisters, because this flower vs. astral names thing
>is a definite possibility?

The flower names seem to just be common in the wizarding world in 
general - we also have Lavender Brown, Pansy Parkinson, Fleur 
Delacour, Madam Poppy Pomfrey, Olive Hornby, Moaning Myrtle, Daisy 
Pennifold (from QttA), and the Fat' Lady's portrait-friend Violet.  I 
doubt all of these people are related.  Moreover, Lily is 
Muggle-born, there is some evidence that Lavender is also Muggle-born 
or at least was brought up in the Muggle world, and Petunia is (at 
least to our knowledge so far) not even a part of the wizarding 
world, while Narcissa would appear to be a pureblood from the 
Tapestry.  One would assume that Pansy is also a pureblood, or at 
least a half-blood who if working her way up in the world.  I don't 
think the flower names signify relations.

Some males also have plant names - for example, Burdock Muldoon (from 
FBaWTFT).  There's also at least one ministry wizard named Basil 
mentioned in GoF, although I suppose that doesn't quite count. 
Oliver Wood might also fall in this category.

If anything, I would tend to think the flower names are either mere 
convenience or a reference to Tolkien - most of the named female 
hobbits in his stories have flower names.  (An Eleanor Branstone is 
sorted into Hufflepuff in GoF; she has an excellent name for a 
hobbit.)

  - Boggles (who makes her own perfumes out of essential oils, and a 
few of her experiments have smelled unusual indeed)

-- 

  - Boggles, aka J. C. B. Ramon			boggles(at)earthlink.net
"It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but the 
act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment. "
	- Gauss, in a Letter to Bolyai, 1808.