Rose & Hugo (was Re: Ron's Kids' names)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 176123

Jen:  I just thought it was a funny idea, given the type of
relationship that Hermione & Ron have.  There he is 19 years later and
still acting like a kid, whispering to Harry how he used a spell to
get his driver's license.  Thinking each one secretly influenced the
naming of a child after an old crush fits with the way they tend to
operate with each other.  Although the more I consider it, Rose after
Rosmerta wouldn't be as likely to get by Hermione as Victor Hugo would
get by Ron.  I can envision her narrowing her eyes, crossing her arms
and seeing right through him...
> 
> No, now I'm back to thinking they are simply names the two of them 
could agree on.  Can you see *that* process, the two of them trying to
agree on names?  For fanfiction I guess.

Carol responds:
The first thing that struck me as I read the names was that they were
unfamiliar or new; the second, that they each shared an initial with a
parent. I like the suggestion someone made (sorry; I can't remember
who) that Ron wanted his kids to have names of their own, not names
that had originally belonged to relatives. (Notice that Ron got a
brand-new watch for his seventeenth birthday. Harry got, and
appreciated, the dented watch that had belonged to Fabian Prewett, but
to Ron, it would have been just another hand-me-down.)

So I think Ron and Hermione must have agreed on brand-new names that
shared a first initial with one parent. Maybe they flipped a coin to
decide which parent's initial to use first, or they decided that a
girl would have Ron's initial and a boy would have Hermione's. Then,
like a true Muggle-born, Hermione would have pulled out a book of
Muggle baby names. Rather like naming a hurricane: "Let's see. What
names can we find for a girl that start with R and haven't been used
by the Weasleys yet? And, no, Ron. You may not name her Rosmerta!" (If
Ron offered "Rose" as a compromise, Hermione could have had her silent
revenge with "Hugo," but that's just an amusing bit of speculation by
our whimsical Potioncat. In fact, except for the matching initials,
this whole thread is whimsical speculation, bless it!)

Carol, who wouldn't put it past JKR herself to have named Hugo after
Victor Hugo, but thinks she would view it as a private joke if she did so