Severus

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 190129

Geoff wrote:
> Off the top of my head, I can think of four surnames in the Harry  Potter books which are the same as UK place names.
> 
> Snape is a small town in Suffolk, on the east coast of England, about three or four miles inland from Aldeburgh which is on the coast. <snip>
> 
> Dursley is a small town alongside the M5 in Gloucestershire about 15 miles north of Bristol and also of Bath. There is a very tenuous link here in that Jo Rowling was born at Yate, about 10 miles south of Dursley and may have remembered the name.
> 
> The third which occurs to me is Bagshot which is a medium sized town in Surrey, about 10 miles south of Windsor Castle.
> 
> Finally, Flint is a county in the north east corner of Wales, just across the border from the city of Chester.
> 
> But, to be frank, I see no hidden agenda in their selection as family names in the books.
>
Carol responds:

I don't remember a Bagshot in the HP books. Can you refresh my memory? (I do remember a Bagshot Row in the Tolkien books, tied in with a lot of bag, sack, and cul de sac puns, including the patrician/plebeian name Sackville-Baggins, but nothing of the sort in HP.)

I think that, aside from giving a number of her characters Latin or Greek names that occasionally gave hints as to their character traits or other aspects such as their Animagus form (Sirius) or their status as a werewolf (Remus Lupin, Fenrir Greyback), JKR was more interested in the sound of a last name than its meaning (except in Phineas Nigellus Black--meaning Black Black Black). For example, "Snape" resembles "snake" and I think she wanted it to sound ominous and perhaps play on the association of Slytherin with snakes. Also, Severus Snape alliterates, as do many of the names in the HP books, including Dudley Dursley (perhaps chosen because it somehow suggests someone slow-witted?). Filius Flitwick, Minerva McGonagall, and probably others that I can't recall at the moment. Essentially, I think she wanted the *sound* of the name to fit the character. Sometimes, there are other considerations, such as giving most (but not all) of the Black family members names related to constellations. Possibly, she intended some names, such as Hag rid (hag-rid[den]) to have slightly comic or dark comic overtones, not surprising given her love of puns.

Carol, just posting thoughts off the top of my head