Severus

[willsonteam]

No: HPFGUIDX 190144

Geoff:
 I think she must have used the town and regional names 
> because she like the sound of them... 
> 
> Who knows? 
> <loud offstage whisper of 'JKR knows'>.
> :-)
>

Potioncat:
Yes, and she also knows what evil lurks in the hearts of wizards...
:-)

Someone else has already mentioned that JKR collected names for meanings and sounds. I recall some story about "Hogwarts." It seems a friend reminded her that they had seen a hogwarts lily at a flower show--although she had forgotten that. She had simply liked the word and used it for the name of the wizarding school.

Has anyone ever worked out how many characters or place names in the series? Clearly she put a great deal of thought into some names and a bit less in others. Still, it's curious that she forgot Lily's maiden name was Evans and gave it to a throw away character as well.