Names and things...

[Geoff]

No: HPFGUIDX 190155


June:
> I have no doubt that Uxbridge was stolen from England lol. We
> also have Cambridge, London, Surrey and many others. I even
> grew up just down the street from Sherwood Forest. 

Geoff:
I must be careful as come of these discussions are edging close to 
being OT but I shall try to keep on the right side. I was joking to an 
extent when I said that Uxbridge was swiped by the Canadians
. 
I've got to be careful because I'm paying my first visit to North 
America, to Toronto in May because my eldest son took up a 
past there last year; I must be careful not to ruffle the natives'
feathers.
:-)

June:
> It does not surprise me to learn that while there are villages
> named Snape that there are also people with the surname Snape.
> It is common for streets, villages and small towns to be named
> after someone if they have done some thing rememborable. My own
> grandfather has a street in Toronto named after him. I was just
> pointing out that I had read somewhere that the name Snape was
> taken from a small village and as someone has already pointed
> out I was not wrong on that as she found the very story I was
> talking about where JKR stated that the name was taken from a
> small village.

Geoff
I think there is a two-way traffic here. Some places take their names 
from a person and vice-versa some family names come from places. 
I can see that, for example in the 19th century, pioneers moving 
across North America might well give a name to a new settlement. 
So, strictly as an imaginary example, you might find Jenkins Creek 
or David's Hollow. 

Certainly in the UK – and probably in a lot of mediaeval Europe as 
well – it was not uncommon for a person to be designated by an 
attribute of their work or home. William the Conqueror, who invaded 
in 1066, was often referred to as William of Normandy and there are 
cases of people recorded maybe as something likeaRobert of Wood's 
End,  Alain the Wheelwright or Matthew the Fuller; these latter three 
again being imaginary examples. Over time, these  became accepted 
as the family names so you will find names which are also those of 
geographical places. I have known folk with family names England, 
English, Welsh, Irish, Lancashire and York often met when I was teaching. 
It is very common in England to find people with "job" names ending 
in "-er". Farmer, Baker, Butcher, *Potter* (even!) which also include 
some not quite so recognisable as Cooper, Fletcher and my own name 
Bannister.

Some authors do not worry too much about their names; some do. The 
classic example is, of course, Tolkien whose books starting with what
became "The Silmarillion" used them primarily as a vehicle for his 
invention of the Elvish languages and he, being a scholar and Professor 
in Mediaeval and Old English drew on those resources, creating a fictional
genealogy for them.

Now, Jo Rowling hasn't used that approach but she has spent time with 
her names often developing humorous results – such as Diagon Alley, 
Grimmauld Place, Durmstrang but in other places names which seem 
eminently suitable to the characters involved, for example the list of 
books and authors for Hogwarts. I often chuckle over `Magical Theory"
 by Adelbert Waffling or "Magical Drafts and Potions" by Arsenius Jigger 
to mention but two. Add in names like Malfoy while Pius Thicknesse 
and Cornelius Fudge as politicians' names had me rolling in the aisles. 

Returning to Snape, who was responsible for starting all this, bless him, 
I think that, as someone has commented in the past, Severus Snape as 
a combination of names has a greasy feel to it and the alliterative 
sibilants at the beginning give a decided snake-like feel.When I first 
met him in PS, I though "Aha, someone to dislike". But, to look again at 
his surname, I still feel that the Lexicon got it wrong in the Snape they 
settled on in North Yorkshire. I lived in Lancashire until I was nine and 
my father came from North Yorks but I never knew of this Snape until 
this Lexicon point came up. It is only a tiny place and JKR, as I did, would 
most probably take on board the Snape in East Anglia because of its 
worldwide renown plus the Lexicon's awful gaffe in placing the Northern 
Snape near Hadrian's Wall.

The only evidence we have is that the Lexicon comments: "JKR says `Snape 
is an English village'" but if you then follow there link to the eToys interview 
transcript, etoys.com, Autumn 2000, JKR said: "'Snape' is the name of a 
place in England". Full stop. In case you haven't realised, I am passionate 
about the etymology of names, both real world and fictional.