- Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore: Albus is Latin for “white.” It’s a reference to his beard. Percival was one of King Arthur’s knights of Round Table. It refers to his bravery. Wulfric is an Anglo-Saxon name that means “wolf ruler or “wolf power.” It’s a nod to a 12-century British figure who was known as a miracle worker. Brian can roughly mean “noble”, or you can think it’s Just Rowling putting a normal name out of all the unusual names. Dumbledore is an old English word for “bumblebee.” Rowling imagined him humming to music a lot.
- Severus Snape: Severus has its roots in Latin, meaning “harsh” or “stern”, the way he treats his students. Snape comes from the old word “sneypa” which means “to dishonor, disgrace, outrage”.
- Minerva McGonagall: Minerva is the Roman name of Athena, the goddess of wisdom. McGonagall is a joke to William McGonagall, who was called “the worst poet in the English language”.
- Rubeus Hagrid: Rubeus may come from the Latin word “Rubeo”, which roughly means reddish. Hagrid is another old English word that means bad night. (Rubeus Hagrid is a bad drinker so he had a lot of bad nights. His face will turn red when he drinks a lot.)
- Quirinus Quirrell: Quirinus was a Roman God that had two faces, the God of choice. He is commonly associated with war to show Quirinus Quirrell is not as meek as he seems. Quirrel is near the word “squirrel”, which is cute, and harmless to nod to his nervous characteristic.
- Gilderoy Lockhart: Gilderoy belongs to “a highwayman, and a very good-looking rouge”. Lockhart is of Scottish origin and is said to mean “brave” and “hardy”, which is ironic due to his behavior.
- Alastor Moody: Alastor in ancient Greek is another name for Zeus, meaning “revenge”.
- Dolores Jane Umbridge: Dolores means “sorrow”. Umbridge is a play on “umbrage”, meaning offense.
- Argus Filch: In Greek mythology, Argus is the name for a giant who has a hundred eyes, he seems to be able to watch everything at Hogwarts. Filch is a British slang for stealing, which has less connection with this character.
- Horace Eugene Flaccus Slughorn: Horace, the Roman poet was known for his well-mannered and serious critiques of the society at the time. He is friends with a famous poet Virgil, which might refer to him loving a coterie with famous people. Eugene is Greek for “well-born”. Flaccus is a Roman reference referring to a well-off family line. It is a nickname meaning “fatty”. He has a little belly. Slughorn is a word in Gaelic dialect that “slogan” is derived from, basically meaning “war cry”. He did help at the battle in Hogwarts.
- Sybill Trelawney: Sybill is a homonym of “Sibyl”, who was a prophet in ancient times. (She is the great-granddaughter of Cassandra, she was cursed by Apollo. She can tell the future but no one will ever believe her.) Trelawney is a Cornish old family name that means “the open town near the water”. The family motto is “Sermoni consona facts” which means “Deeds agreeing with words”. (What I said is the same with my behavior.)
- Pomona Sprout: Pomona is the Roman goddess of fruit trees. Sprout is another reference to her plant cultivation.
- Filius Flitwick: Filius can be directly translated from Latin. It’s similar to the word “filial”, which means “of a son or daughter”. Flit comes from the Middle English word “flitten” which translates into “fly”. The first spell he taught is “Wingardium Leviosa”, the spell to make things go through the air. You can say he is the “son of movement”
