R.A.B. and Imperioused Rosemerta

[zgirnius]

No: HPFGUIDX 153406

> > sbarthell:
> > > Just one question, who in the book is named Alphred?
> > >
> > zgirnius:
> > A Black uncle, a wealthy one who died and left Sirius enough 
money 
> > that he was able to live on his own. That seems to be the sort of 
> > relative it makes sense to name a son after, for crass financial 
> > reasons!
> >
> Ginger:  Isn't his middle name Arcturus on JKR's family tree? 

zgirnius:
The Lexicon listed RAB as Regulus Arcturus Black late last year, but 
then retracted it. The going theory I've heard is that someone like a 
translator may have leaked something to them, but they later decided 
the source was insufficiently canonical(?). (I have not personally 
come across an explanation for this series of events).

I don't see why Jo would need to tell a translator of HBP the exact 
middle name of Regulus, though, just that RAB=Regulus the brother of 
Sirius. Arcturus could be a good guess based on the star name pattern 
in Black family names, I think it is a better known star than Alphard 
(which I was unaware was a star until recently, not being an 
astronomy buff, while Arcturus is in *my* general knowledge base, 
anyway).

The Black family tree sold in a charity auction earlier this year 
does not list middle names, so it neither confirms nor denies this 
guess. It does provide new information in that both Alphard and 
Arcturus are the first names of males closely related to Regulus. 
Arcturus Black was the father of Orion Black, hence Regulus's 
paternal grandfather. Alphard Black was the brother of Walburga 
Black, hence his uncle. So either would be a reasonable choice for a 
middle name if the Blacks wanted to use a family name.

I immediately believed, last July, that RAB was Regulus, and since 
there was a conveniently mentioned Uncle Alphard already available in 
the series, I assumed that was the name. But that is also a guess!