Vol. 60 No. 3 (2012)
Research Article

Mythic and Occultist Naming Strategies in Harry Potter

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  • Vanessa Compagnone,
  • Marcel Danesi
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1179/0027773812Z.00000000018

Published 2012-09-01

Copyright (c) 2012 American Name Society 2012

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Abstract

This article looks at the names used in the seven bestselling Harry Potter novels by J. K. Rowling. The names reverberate with mythic and occultist meanings that complement the characterizations and that, arguably, even guide the narratives themselves: that is, the events in the stories are determinable in part by the names of the characters, which constitute metaphorical cues to the storylines. The naming patterns in the books, in effect, revive the mythic past for the contemporary world in ingenious ways.

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