sharing an unimportant discovery that made me laugh

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 100212

Shaun Hately wrote:
Well, bear in mind that the prince isn't actually Prince Harry -
he's Prince Henry Charles Albert David (I think) - Prince Henry.
While he's commonly referred to as Harry, now, it was a fair while
before that useage became common in the press. In Harry's case, as
far as we know Harry is his actual proper name - not just a
shorterning of something else - and that is a slightly different
situation.


Neri:
This is indeed a point that I always wanted to ask the British here. 
Is my impression correct that the name Harry Potter does have 
a "common" sound to it? To my knowledge Harry is indeed the common 
form of the more aristocratic Henry. Wasn't King Henry the VIII, for 
example, known as "Great Harry" to the commoners? Potter is also a 
frequent name, and it had originated from a commoner's occupation, as 
opposed to Dursley which (to my non-english ear, at least) sounds 
more aristocratic. My thoughts were that JKR modeled the name Harry 
Potter after those generic names of commoner kids in fairytales, such 
as Jack (the giant killer) or the german Hansel and Gretel, but maybe 
I don't read these nuances correctly?

Neri