i already wish i had spent the time it took to type this on something else.

[elapses]

Things I should be doing instead of writing up this post:
- finishing my last paper of the semester
- studying for Chem tomorrow
- writing my yuletide
- UM, ANYTHING?

So I kind of want to talk about Harry Potter again (sooooooorry) and how I think the epilogue is so much better when you're not a) reading it for the first time and b) interpreting "all was well" as "happily ever after". Because it isn't happily ever after-- they lost so many. It's about how if the survivors cannot enjoy life, what was the sacrifice of the dead for?

OKAY BUT YOU GUYS! I feel like between this and my drunken confession to reading Next Gen fanfic last weekend I am coming off as some weird psychopath (...because who else reads Next Gen fanfic? I MEAN REALLY? All I wanted was stories about 11-year-olds discovering hoggy warty Hogwarts and having dumb adventures, but all there is is like... a bunch of people who can't let go of their Draco/__________ pairing continuing it on with Draco/[child of __________] porn). I MEAN, I DON'T KNOW, I am having fun with my mini-Harry Potter phase, because like, I haven't felt this way since Deathly Hallows came out and even thaaaaaat was pretty much just excitement stretching from the OotP movie to the discussion superskittles76 and I had over Tex-Mex a couple of days after the book was released. I totally used to write Harry Potter fanfic, and once it was done it actually felt like I was totally over it. Like actually completely forever only passingly interested in Harry Potter. But silly self, you don't get over these things for good.

ANYWAY WHAT THIS POST IS ACTUALLY ABOUT IS THE POTTER FAMILY NAMES-- James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna, because I HATE THEM LIKE BURNING. Part of that is maybe me being neurotic, because it actually drives me a little batty that like, every baby ever born in fiction is named after someone. LIFE DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY, friends. And I would like to demonstrate that with a poll!

I know a lot of you actively think about what you would name your kids (captaincatapult and goldenmelisande did their own polling to this effect pretty recently): is that because you think they're beautiful names, or is it because you want to honor someone in your life?


[Poll #1316344]

I... don't mean to belittle anyone that does want to name someone after someone. I think it is a lovely, lovely way to honor someone important to you (I found out recently that my favorite Aunt Monti is named for a Professor Montague that my Nana was especially affected by, which I think is so lovely), what I take issue with is the frequency with which it happens in fiction. It's like anytime anyone pops a kid out it has to be named for someone, they cannot be bothered to come up with their own names. (It is lovely, though, in the West Wing when Toby calls his baby girl Molly after the dead secret service agent.)

I guess the other thing is that they're all Harry's names he wants to give to honor all the dead in his life, and it just... doesn't sound like Ginny had much input at allllll in what to name them. You know? She lost family too, but the scope of people represented in the little Potter's names is all Harry. Something about that really kind of bothers me. (BUT, on the other hand, I think a legitimate argument can be made that Ginny recognizes that having kids and a family means... not necessarily more to Harry than it would to her, but it's special to her, the youngest of seven, in a different way than it would be to little orphan Harry, who has always craved that family connection. It's like Scully and Mulder! And the way poor, emotionally abandoned Mulder really desperately would like a family, but Scully has grown up in a big family with brothers named Bill and Charlie and even if she would like kids, Exceeeeeept it's not like Scully and Mulder at all, because Mulder does not view himself as deserving of that family, and they weren't supposed to have kids. BUT STILL, I think Scully named William for Mulder's William and not her Williams for the exact reason that Ginny might let Harry give all her kids really awful names.)

Hi my name is Alexandra and sometimes I like to write up six long paragraphs about something everybody already agrees with anyway/doesn't even think about anymore and post them on the internet.

P.S. LAST NIGHT'S CHUCK WAS AMAZING.

Comments

[so-bambiesque.livejournal.com]

My middle name is Elizabeth because that's my Nan's middle name because she was born on the day that the Queen was christened... or the other way around. But that's definitely becoming a family name now. I know at least one of my sister's wants to give a daughter the middle name Elizabeth, and my cousin gave his daughter that middle name. I think my youngest sister's middle name is Ann because it was my other Grandma's middle name, but I'm not 100% sure of that.

But although I can't really talk about Harry Potter... Leo, Noah and Joanie Lyman, anyone? Noah I can get with. Joan I can get with as a middle name. Leo, or the feminine versions thereof? Not so much.

[adinfinitum.livejournal.com]

It's like Scully and Mulder! And the way poor, emotionally abandoned Mulder really desperately would like a family, but Scully has grown up in a big family with brothers named Bill and Charlie and even if she would like kids, Exceeeeeept it's not like Scully and Mulder at all, because Mulder does not view himself as deserving of that family, and they weren't supposed to have kids. BUT STILL, I think Scully named William for Mulder's William and not her Williams for the exact reason that Ginny might let Harry give all her kids really awful names.
THIS IS WHY I LOVE YOU. And I completely agree (does that even need to be said?) and that's why I'm so obsessed with that whole aspect of their characters. Particularly Mulder's guilt complex, which although people tend to go overboard and attribute everything about his character to it, I think you're dead on in saying he doesn't think he deserves that family. AND THAT, LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, IS WHY MULDER IS A BEAUTIFUL FUCKED UP MAN.

And about names...I'm purposefully not letting myself get too emotionally attached to specific names because being the fifth child in my family, I don't want to have my heart set on anything only to find that an older sibling STOLE IT TO NAME THEIR CHILD. Life is so unfairrrrrr sometimes.

I...also agree with all your Potter ramblings, so!

[stepliana.livejournal.com]

My middle name is my mother's maiden name - which is a Filipino thing, I think, but I know of other families that have done the same thing. When I was growing up, I was a little jealous of my friends who had the 'normal' middle names, like Marie, or Lynn, or whatever, but I like it now, it's unique. I think I might do the same thing for my kids, but we'll see.

But I agree - I always felt Ginny got a little shafted, and it just seems too ~cutesy~ to name all their kids, first AND middle after family and friends - of Harry. I think Ron and Hermione did a better job, even if Rose and Hugo means they all start with H or R, but that's okay. They're still their own names, not names that previously belonged to someone else and thus carry a whole lot of baggage.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

That's interesting though that it's sort of becoming a family name.

OH MY GOD, IN EVERY SINGLE JOSH/DONNA FIC WHERE THEY HAVE KIDS THE NAMES MAKE ME SO ANGRY >:( I totally agree with that whole paragraph, I think people vastly overestimate the importance of Leo in Josh's life. I mean, no, he was incredibly important to Josh, but not so much that when he had a kid he would go "OKAY, WELL, WHAT'S THE BEST WAY TO NAME MY SON/DAUGHTER AFTER THIS DUDE?"

[so-bambiesque.livejournal.com]

EXACTLY!! And to the point where he's more important to Josh than his own father was?! PLEASE. Leo can really be a total A-hole to Josh sometimes and yet people act like they were closer than an act father and son. I feel bad saying this on Leo McGarry day, but whatever.

[afrocurl.livejournal.com]

Being Jewish, I'm named after a dead relative (not exactly, but close enough.) My grandma's name started with R and so does mine. There was another thing we did because she had two names, so my middle name is also tied to that (and in point of fact, my first name does that but in one world.)

I'd probably do the same for my kids, when I have them, so it depends on who in my family has passed on by the time I'm having kids.

(I hope that makes sense, I'm feeling inarticulate today.)

[elapses.livejournal.com]

Particularly Mulder's guilt complex, which although people tend to go overboard and attribute everything about his character to it, I think you're dead on in saying he doesn't think he deserves that family.
YEAH, UH, BIG SURPRISE, I totally agree. There's so much more to Mulder than a guilt complex, but I think the guilt is so much of why he acts like all he ever wants is to lie on his couch and chase spaceships and eat sunflower seeds-- he's not allowed to want a family until he's saved Samantha and saved the world. And that's what the Sixth Extinction is all about. I know we've discussed the degree to which they both want families/how Scully's infertility affects that/wanting to get out the car, like, a ZILLION AND ONE TIMES, but it's so interesting. IN CONCLUSION: I LOVE HIM.

Haaaaaa, as the oldest I don't even have to think about it. My two years younger sister isn't a problem either, she's dead set on giving her kids names like Penelope or Sebastian.

[shimmeryshine.livejournal.com]

I'm not hugely into Harry Potter, but I so agree that the naming thing was a little much! I mean, maybe a middle name, but not BOTH FOR EVERY CHILD. Yeesh.

AND YES, CHUCK WAS SO AMAZING LAST NIGHT AHHH.

[veils.livejournal.com]

I AM GOING TO NAME ALL MY CHILDREN MICKEY.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

Oh! Do all the kids get the mother's maiden name or just one of them (the oldest?) That is nice, I like that.

Yeah, I can deal with Rose and Hugo. That in combination with all of Harry's kids makes me think Rowling is a little too cutesy, but you're absolutely right about the baggage.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

It makes sense! I like the idea of choosing the letter but not the name for someone-- that's a nice way to pass something on without going overboard.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD WASN'T IT??? Chuck never disappoints me though, if there were less ~Buy More employee~ plots it would be PERFECT TO ME.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

EXCEPT FOR ALEXANDRA GILLIAN, AMIRITE?

[elapses.livejournal.com]

Oh I know, hello all of season 5? Josh was especially affected by Leo's death, but that's... Josh. That's how he reacts to loss. And it isn't that they didn't have a bond of some sort, because they absolutely did and that last bit of Noel is one of the best moments of the series (and that's saying something!) but you're so right in saying that it wasn't more important than an actual father and son.

[veils.livejournal.com]

WELL, OKAY. I SUPPOSE.


you know, that is actually kind of a lovely name. BUT I'M SORRY ALL MY OTHER CHILDREN ARE GOING TO BE NAMED MICKEY. for obvious reasons.

[whalelines.livejournal.com]

I don't tell you I love you enough, but I do! I LOVE YOU!

Especially for posts like this-- I do think the names are a bit much. I would understand somehow paying some amount of homage to both Sirius and to Dumbledore, as those two men were undeniably the center of Harry's upbringing and his biggest emotional connection to others, but I dunno..it is a little OTT, I guess.

I do like that M&S's kid is William, because it does work for them both without being too nutso. I mean, really, who would be HONOURING Bill Mulder? Uhh...no one. He sucked. But I do think it's a nice way to honour the gravity of the Bills in their lives, and plus it's just a classic name.

I do have my kids' names picked out, but they're not FOR anyone. That's just cos I like the names.

[stepliana.livejournal.com]

Both my sister and I have the same middle name - but I've always just wanted to the oldest - sharing the same middle and last name is a bit much for kids, especially my sister and I.

And yeah, it's definitely Rowling - but it is her story, and it is her world, but man, couldn't one of them have been a Kevin, or a Andrew or something? I'm just saying.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

Y, I RECOGNIZE THAT GILLIAN & I ARE LESS IMPORTANT FORCES IN YOUR LIFE THAN MICKEY O.

But y, it is a nice name. I actually wanted to name a kid Gillian when I was like, 11 and not a fan of Gillian Anderson but now it would be weird. But I also used to want to name a kid Brittany, so... uh.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I understand Sirius and Dumbledore. Even Snape, to an extent-- I mean, I don't necessarily think he deserved it the way the other two did, but I can understand why Harry would want to do that. I think James and Lily and Luna were wholly unnecessary to pay tribute to, though.

And yeah I liked William too-- especially since he's Will and not Bill, like any of the others. And I liked that Tom and B'Elanna named their daughter Miral. I meaaaaaaan, I like a lot of them individually, I just find it incredibly obnoxious that like, every time a baby is born on TV, it gets named after someone. THAT IS OBVIOUSLY NOT THE WAY IT WORKS.

[veils.livejournal.com]

I'M SORRY BUT, YOU TWO NEED TO UP YOUR GAME A LITTLE. like, maybe come hang out with me in an irish pub and be the most lolarious person ever and swear more than usual and drink beer and tell me to hang out with you next week.

looooooool, i am glad you didn't have children when you were in that phase.

[whalelines.livejournal.com]

Ya but I mean, you're not going to have a problem watching my kids, right? I mean Fox Walter and Dana Monica will want to spend time with Auntie Alex!??!?

[elapses.livejournal.com]

Ha, yeah. It's even worse when you get to the final family tree she drew with Fred II and Molly II and just... ick, it's all definitely too much. But yeah, it is hers.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

OH NO, don't worry, they can totally come and have playdates with my kids David William and Gillian Katharine!

[elapses.livejournal.com]

WELL I'M SORRY GILLIAN AND I ARE LOSING OUT BASED ON OUR DISTANT PROXIMITY TO YOU >:(

It would have been pretty hard for me to have kids then, hpy2say, I was 7.

[ofadoration.livejournal.com]

I was sortakinda named for my dad -- I was born three months premature, aaaand my parents were pretty sure they were having a boy, so they had boy names picked out, but no girl names. I was sort of named on the spot. I'm kind of worried I'm going to overcompensate for having a plain first name (not that I hate it or anything) when it comes to naming my kids. :/

It's like Scully and Mulder! And the way poor, emotionally abandoned Mulder really desperately would like a family, but Scully has grown up in a big family with brothers named Bill and Charlie and even if she would like kids, Exceeeeeept it's not like Scully and Mulder at all, because Mulder does not view himself as deserving of that family, and they weren't supposed to have kids. BUT STILL, I think Scully named William for Mulder's William and not her Williams for the exact reason that Ginny might let Harry give all her kids really awful names.
UGH, I WANT TO GO CRY NOW. I wish and wish that the series had just ended with Existence, because it makes sense from a narrative point of view. (Well, one that isn't Chris Carter's, I guess. I thought I had totally gotten over what I disliked about IWTB, but apparently I'm meh on it again. ANYWAY.) Have you read By Falling In and In by aloysiavirgata? It's probably the best fic I've read in terms of exploring what Mulder and Scully's lives would have been like if Mulder hadn't gone on the run and Scully hadn't given William away, even though it does deal with colonization so it's not exactly the kind of denial!fic I like to read when I read XF babyfic. (I've still never been to The Nursery Files, but lately I am tempted. I know this is probably a bad idea, AND YET.)

As for the HP names, I think I'm neutral on them, but I totally understand why everyone else thinks they're a bit too much, since, well, they are.