Basis for the Name "Hogwarts" (WAS: Pigs and Hogs)

[Phyllis]

No: HPFGUIDX 58822

bboy_mn (Steve) wrote:

> JKR got the name for Hogwarts (I believe) from a flower she had seen
> in a botanical garden. [can someone verify this, I'm working from
> memory... a very bad memory] 

Now me:

Here's a segment from an interview where this came up:

Q: "How do you come up with names?"

JKR: "Some I make up. Some mean something. Dumbledore is olde English 
for bumblebee. I thought I made up Hogwarts, but recently a friend 
said, `Remember we saw lilies in Kew gardens (a garden in London.)' 
Apparently there are lilies there called Hogwarts. I'd forgotten!"

and the link:

http://www.familyeducation.com/article/0,1120,22-9966-0-2,00.html

So it could be that JKR saw the Hogwarts lilies and the name made its 
way into her subconscious, so that later she thought she was making 
up the name when in actuality she was recalling the lilies she had 
seen earlier in her life.  But the interview segment seems fairly 
clear that JKR didn't intend for the Hogwarts name to "mean 
something."  Or at least, it doesn't have a meaning that she's 
willing to divulge just yet!

~Phyllis