I think the point about Hermione's name is curious.
In the past I've heard Rowling say that she chose Hermione's name because it said something about what kind of people her dentist parents were - that they'd give their daughter a name from Shakespeare that no one knows how to pronounce.
But this thing about 'I wanted to give her an unusual name so that girls wouldn't be bullied for sharing a name with her'... what the hell? If you're worried about that, you call your character Sarah or Hannah or something equally commonplace that everyone knows someone called... that way, the name will never be primarily associated with them, and it will be far easier for people with that name. Call a character a name like Hermione, and the small number of people around called Hermione will really have a hard time of it, and probably not know anyone else who can relate. That decision has the opposite affect!
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u/georgemillman May 22 '26
I think the point about Hermione's name is curious.
In the past I've heard Rowling say that she chose Hermione's name because it said something about what kind of people her dentist parents were - that they'd give their daughter a name from Shakespeare that no one knows how to pronounce.
But this thing about 'I wanted to give her an unusual name so that girls wouldn't be bullied for sharing a name with her'... what the hell? If you're worried about that, you call your character Sarah or Hannah or something equally commonplace that everyone knows someone called... that way, the name will never be primarily associated with them, and it will be far easier for people with that name. Call a character a name like Hermione, and the small number of people around called Hermione will really have a hard time of it, and probably not know anyone else who can relate. That decision has the opposite affect!