Baptism/Christianity in HP: was Looking for God in Harry Potter

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 153683

Leslie41:
> Most if not all of Rowling's names have a secondary meaning, from 
> Remus Lupin to Dolores Umbridge to Lucius Malfoy to Voldemort.
> 
> All of them, *all* of them, have secondary meanings.
> 
> Arthur means "noble and courageous"
> Remus Lupin is a double play on the wolf motif.
> Dolores Umbridge means "deceitful shadow" (plus other 
> interpretations)
> Lucius Malfoy is a play on Lucifer and the French "bad faith".
> Voldemort means "flee from death"

Ceridwen:
I don't know where you got your definitions, but some are pretty far 
from their meanings

Remus is from the twin founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus.  They 
were raised by a she-wolf.  This is obviously Pagan mythology.

(the rest of this comes from 'What To Name Your Baby' by Maxwell 
Nurenberg and Morris Rosenblum)

Arthur: Celtic: Noble; Welsh: Bear-Hero; Dolores: Latin via Spanish: 
Sorrow, Our Lady of Sorrows; Lucius: Latin: Bringing Light; Harry: 
See Harold and Henry - Harold: Anglo-Saxon: Army Power / Henry: 
Germanic: Home-Rule; Neville: French: New City; James: Latin : 
Jacobus, from Jacob - Jacob: Hebrew: Supplanter; Peter: Greek via 
Latin: Stone, Rock; Ronald: Scottish var. Reginald - Reginald: 
Germanic: Power-Might; Lily: See Lillian - Lillian: Latin: The Lily; 
Hermione: Greek, fem. form of Hermes; Minerva: Latin: Mind; Ginevra: 
from Guinevere - Guinevere: Welsh: White-Cheeked; Molly: pet form of 
Mary - Mary:  form of Miriam - Miriam: Hebrew: meaning in question: 
pos. rebelious or obstinate

I can't see our dear Peter being a rock.  Certainly not the 
foundation for an entire religion!  Unless you're only speaking about 
the surname, you were way off for Dolores Umbridge.  Far from being a 
form of Lucifer, Lucius is a name in itself, though it most likely 
shares the same Latin root as Lucifer.

Some of the Weasleys have Arthurian names.  Arthur, a given; Ginny 
from King Arthur's queen; Percy from Percival or Parsifal.

Lily joins at least four other female characters in having a flower 
name, which is common with girls.  There are also Pansy Parkinson, 
Narcissa Black Malfoy, Lavender Brown, and Lily's sister, Petunia 
Evans Dursley.  Girls also have a tradition of month names (April, 
May, June, Julie, Augusta) and stone names (Pearl, Opal, Ruby, Beryl).

There are two obviously Pagan names in the list: Minerva (Roman 
Goddess of wisdom) and Hermione (from the messenger God Hermes).

As for James, his name is from the OT, as were the names of both 
apostles named James, my late grandfather, my cousin's late husband, 
and several boys I went to school with.  Until 1970, James was one of 
the top ten boys' names in both the UK and the US.

Far from making some Biblical allusion with this name, JKR seems to 
be saying that James was just a regular guy with a regular name, even 
a popular name.  The pureblood Potters, unlike the more pretentious 
Blacks with their star names, and the Malfoys with their Latin names, 
are presented to us, through James's name, as being more down-to-
earth, like the pureblood Weasleys who have common names as well.

It's nice that you can find spiritual confirmation in the books.  If 
that makes you happy and strengthens your faith, then be happy and 
strong.  But there are many reasons to use a name - Remus Lupin, as 
you said, being a clue to his alternate nature, James Potter 
being 'just an ordinary guy'.  Your interpretation does not ring true 
to me at all, and I am rather hypersensitive to Christian parallels, 
having been raised in a church where the parable is the teaching tool 
of choice.

Ceridwen.