Star Gazing

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 154069

Geoff wrote:
> You left out Bellatrix and the "boys".
> 
> The star references are:
> Sirius...       alpha Canis Major (Great Dog)
> Regulus...   alpha Leo (Lion)
> Bellatrix...  gamma Orion
> 
> Andromeda seems to be the name if a constellation and not a star.
> 
> The odd one out seems to be Narcissa, which I would link to
Narcissus in Greek mythology.
> 
> Anyone point me to a star Narcissa?

Carol responds:

No star or constellation, just the Narcissus myth. I think that the
Blacks, seeing their pretty little blonde, blue-eyed daughter, strayed
from the star/constellation connection to the tradition of flower
names for female children (feminized, of course, from Narcissus to
Narcissa). The Narcissus is often yellow, like a daffodil, and that
may be the name that came into her mother's mind on seeing her for the
first time. But of course, there's also the connotation of vanity and
self-love. Maybe Draco is an extension of herself, or maybe mother
love trumps self-love, even for Narcissa?

And, of course, she continued the Black family tradition, giving her
child the name of a constellation even though she married a Malfoy
(where the tradition is less clear--Lucius is clearly Latin and
related to light, but Abraxas has Gnostic and numerological
connections that someone else may want to explore--note "abra" as in
"abracadabra"?)

Carol, noting that Bellatrix means "female warrior" or Amazon