What's in a name? That which we call a Harry, by any other name would ... be as noble?

Okay, so my title sort of fell apart in the long run, but whatever.

This is sort of in conjunction with my last post. Jo is very good with names. She's a master wordsmith in general, but that's not the point of this post.

Jo says she makes up about a third of the names in the series, but I don't think that's quite true. She's a very smart woman, and we know she has reasons for everything she does, and those of us who've read all the books know this for a fact--remember Prisoner of Azkaban and how we were all floored with the revelation that Lupin was a --gasp!--werewolf?

That's because we all sort of took for granted that when Jo names someone, she has a reason for it. If we'd thought about it, come on, Lupin? That's Latin right there for you! We all felt a little silly, I think.

But that's not the only name that's got deeper meaning than something that sounds cool. Harry, for example, means "army ruler" or "leader." Given that he ends up being the poster child for the side of Good, it's a fitting name, as unwilling as he was to take that role.

Conversely, Bellatrix means "female warrior." Rather apt for someone who fights at Voldemort's side--and the only female we see there, too!

In that same vein, let's look at Voldemort--if you break it up, we get the French "Vole de Mort." Flight from Death. Well, that's what all those Horcruxes were for, right?

How about Colin Creevey? You know, annoying little bloke with a camera attached to his face? Colin means "young" or "childlike." He does have a rather childlike view of the world, doesn't he?

And then there's all the deeper meanings and secondary definitions to her names. Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic in the beginning of the series, makes a mess of things. He's incompetent--and that's another meaning of the word "fudge," beyond being a tasty snack.

Dudley Dursley--he's a bit of a "dud," don't you agree? But his last name ... Jo chose it because it sounded "dull and forbidding."

Jo also makes use of constellations when naming characters--Sirius Orion, Regulus Arcturus, Bellatrix, Draco ... are you going crazy yet? Well, I'm not done yet!

Fleur Delacour--French for "flower of the court."She also happens to be part Veela, a creature that men can't help but be drawn to for their beauty. We can take that a step further, too: Veela comes from the Slavonic word "Vila." A Vila is a female spirit of wind and storm, and can appear in human form as a beautiful woman, eternally young.

And it's not just characters Jo plays with. There's the Knight Bus, which I'd never realised was something of a real thing until reading that. It's not something you hear here in the States! Likewise with Ernie Prang--I'd never realised "prang" could mean "crash"--something the Knight Bus comes close to doing quite often.

I bet now you're going to look at the books with a new respect for how Jo came up with her names, aren't you?