Karkaroff's name

[Eric Oppen]

No: HPFGUIDX 95592

Actually, the simple explanation of Karkaroff's name is that he is using an
older convention for transliterating Russian names into English.

In the old days, particularly prior to the Russian Revolution, many names
that we'd now end with a "v" got ended with an "ff" instead---I've seen
"Kieff" where we'd say "Kiev" (modern Kiyev, in the Ukraine), the ruling
dynasty was called the "Romanoffs," and so on and so forth.

I _think_ (I may be wrong) that English picked this up from French, but it
has been pointed out to me that my French is very weak.

Considering how old-fashioned the WW is in many ways, them sticking to an
older convention is hardly surprising.  We don't know how old Karkaroff
is---with Dumbledore still up and running around at 150+, and the witch that
tested him on his N.E.W.T.s still alive and active, wizards and witches seem
to have much greater lifespans than we do.  It could well be that Karkaroff
spelled his name that way when writing (in English, French or other
Latin-alphabet-using languages) because that was the correct way _when he
learned those languages,_ and just sees no particular reason to change.  I
daresay that if I were a Russian, and chose to spell my name, in English,
"Ivanoff," there'd be no Language Police to burst in and drag me off to the
hoosegow.