What's in a name?
Oh fandom, I beg you. Please! Please stop with the bitching about the names in the "dreaded" epilogue. (I use quotes there because unlike the majority, I LIKE the epilogue.)
Now, it's one thing to question Harry naming a son after Snape. Some may even question why he would name a son after Dumbledore. I'm not after arguing over which characters are worthy, unworthy, who you like or dislike, or even what you love or loathe about Deathly Hallows, the series in general, JKR or her writing style and methods. No, this is about the names of the characters.
"OMG! How could Harry name his child something so horrible as Albus Severus? And Scorpius? Hugo? Those poor kids are going to get their arses kicked with names like that! It's like bad fanfiction!!"
Um, no. They're not. It's not. (Well, okay, it might resemble some bad fanfic, but where the hell do you think the bad fanfic authors came up with the idea for names like that?) And not just because Albus Severus might probably be called Al. See, this is the wizarding world. A LOT OF THEM have odd or unusual names like that! Shall I remind you of a few?
Draco, Remus, Sirius, Lucius, Narcissa, Bellatrix, Mundungus, Gellert, Dedalus, Alastor, Kingsley, Bilius, Cornelius, Pius, Bathilda, Cho, Arcturus, Ludovic, Aberforth, Phineas, Andromeda, Walburga, Argus, Broderick, Sibyll, Minerva, Filius, Rabastan, Rodolphus, Gilderoy, Nymphadora, Xenophilius, Abraxas, Cormac, Dorcas, Cuthbert, Arabella, Florean, Rubeus, Rosmerta, Mafalda, Myrtle, Helga, Rowena, Salazar, Godric, Caradoc, Dilys, Barnabas, Elphias, Adalbert, Ginevra, Septimus, Kennilworthy...
Need I continue? I could, you know. There are dozens more. Go have a gander through the HP Lexicon if you don't believe me. Better yet, go back and read the books. Go and look at names that are popular/common in India and Wales and Nigeria and Brazil and compare those to names popular/common in the US and the UK and Australia and other countries.
So unless you plan to write essays bitching about how every kid with an unusual name is going to be scarred for life because of it, please get a grip and remember the (fictional!) world we're talking about. Unusual to you is usually common to someone else somewhere else. How many of you thought Draco and Remus were ridiculous names when you first read them, and now, how commonplace are they in your own personal lexicon? How many elves do you remember from Tolkein's universe named John and Mary?
Oy!
/end rant
Now, it's one thing to question Harry naming a son after Snape. Some may even question why he would name a son after Dumbledore. I'm not after arguing over which characters are worthy, unworthy, who you like or dislike, or even what you love or loathe about Deathly Hallows, the series in general, JKR or her writing style and methods. No, this is about the names of the characters.
"OMG! How could Harry name his child something so horrible as Albus Severus? And Scorpius? Hugo? Those poor kids are going to get their arses kicked with names like that! It's like bad fanfiction!!"
Um, no. They're not. It's not. (Well, okay, it might resemble some bad fanfic, but where the hell do you think the bad fanfic authors came up with the idea for names like that?) And not just because Albus Severus might probably be called Al. See, this is the wizarding world. A LOT OF THEM have odd or unusual names like that! Shall I remind you of a few?
Draco, Remus, Sirius, Lucius, Narcissa, Bellatrix, Mundungus, Gellert, Dedalus, Alastor, Kingsley, Bilius, Cornelius, Pius, Bathilda, Cho, Arcturus, Ludovic, Aberforth, Phineas, Andromeda, Walburga, Argus, Broderick, Sibyll, Minerva, Filius, Rabastan, Rodolphus, Gilderoy, Nymphadora, Xenophilius, Abraxas, Cormac, Dorcas, Cuthbert, Arabella, Florean, Rubeus, Rosmerta, Mafalda, Myrtle, Helga, Rowena, Salazar, Godric, Caradoc, Dilys, Barnabas, Elphias, Adalbert, Ginevra, Septimus, Kennilworthy...
Need I continue? I could, you know. There are dozens more. Go have a gander through the HP Lexicon if you don't believe me. Better yet, go back and read the books. Go and look at names that are popular/common in India and Wales and Nigeria and Brazil and compare those to names popular/common in the US and the UK and Australia and other countries.
So unless you plan to write essays bitching about how every kid with an unusual name is going to be scarred for life because of it, please get a grip and remember the (fictional!) world we're talking about. Unusual to you is usually common to someone else somewhere else. How many of you thought Draco and Remus were ridiculous names when you first read them, and now, how commonplace are they in your own personal lexicon? How many elves do you remember from Tolkein's universe named John and Mary?
Oy!
/end rant