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The wizarding world of Harry Potter is an etymologist’s playground. Very few characters have meaningless names, even the bland-sounding Harry Potter, whose name implies great leadership skills and the overthrowing of an old regime.
I mean, wow, spoiler alert.
By dissecting the names of certain characters in the Harry Potter series, some major plot points become blindingly obvious.
Remus Lupin
Newsflash: Remus Lupin is a werewolf. No need to read the books or watch the movies to know this to be true — just take a look at his name! Lupin comes from the Latin word lupinus and gives wolves their scientific name: Canis lupus. In English, we use the word “lupine” to describe something that is wolf-like.
A werewolf, for example.
And Remus Lupin’s first name is interesting, too. Remus is one half of the legendary Greek twins, Remus and Romulus, who were raised by a she-wolf. The twins, who fought to the death, remind Harry Potter readers of Remus Lupin’s internal struggle with his dual identity as a werewolf.
It’s a sad story, but one which many readers will find relatable.
Did I just imply that some people are werewolves, or am I referring to the internal struggle that we all battle? I’ll leave that up to you.
Draco Malfoy
This name is just full of bad vibes. Draco Malfoy would conjure up the image of a bad apple even without the characterization in Harry Potter.
Draco means dragon in Latin, serpent in Greek, and is clearly linked to the constellation of the same name. In some stories, the constellation was formed after the legendary dragon was killed by Minerva, in others, it’s slaughered by Hercules in one of his many trials. But either way, the defeated beast was tossed into the sky forevermore. To top it off, the term “draconian” suggests cruelty.
No wonder he’s so prickly.
“Malfoy” is a portmanteau of two French words meaning “bad” and “faith.” Dragon of Bad Faith not only acts as Harry Potter’s teenage nemesis, but is a follower of Voldemort… until he decides not to be. The Malfoys are Death Eaters only…
