Eileen asked:
What has happened to the WW that they so quickly switched over to a complete slate of almost ordinary names?
Perhaps it happened because the WW had two wars, and in both cases the anti-muggle faction lost?
Okay, so we don't actually know anything about Grindelwald and the Wizarding World's WWII analogue. Given that Dumbledore is known to have opposed Grindelwald, however, and given that he's also a notorious muggle-lover, it seems quite possible to me that Grindelwald's followers, like Voldemort's, associated themselves with a strongly anti-muggle platform. If so, then it would not seem at all unlikely for the naming traditions of the Wizarding World to have undergone two sea changes, one in the post-war period of the 1950s, and another one during the days of Voldemort's rise.
Amy wrote:
Is there a sociopolitical reason behind the trend toward Harrys, Ronalds and Seamuses? An unconscious desire to blend in, perhaps even a pro-Muggle statement in protest against the pureblood movement afoot in their birth year of 1980?
I've always assumed that this does indeed reflect sociopolitical changes within the wizarding world.
Wizards born before the 1940s tend to have classical names, either Latinate or mythological. We have Albus, Rubeus, Minerva, and Sibyll. Even "Poppy" Pomphrey might well be a Poppeia.
The post-war, pre-Voldemort generation seems to be divided along lines of heritage, or perhaps even lines of political affiliation. Proud Old Families seem to prefer to stick with their old-fashioned naming traditions. So the Crouches are Bartemii, and Fudge is a Cornelius. The Malfoys are Lucius and Narcissa. Bagman, whose manner of speaking of good old Augustus Rookwood in his Penseive appearance would seem to indicate that his family was very much tied into the old boy network of the Wizarding World, is named Ludo.
The Weasleys, the Longbottoms and the Potters, on the other hand, seem to have struck out into Muggle territory when it came time to name their children. We have Molly and Arthur, and good old Uncle Algie, and Frank and James.
Given that these families are all three strongly associated with either a firm pro-muggle stance or a strong emnity to Voldemort and his followers, I find myself wondering whether their political affiliations might not have been to some extent a matter of family tradition.
I can also see this as a kind of analogue to the "popularization" of British muggle culture in the post-war period. It is possible that the old-fashioned naming traditions began to fall out of vogue in this era, as the WW became less traditional overall, a trend which might well have contributed to the class resentment which led so many members of the older families to join with Voldemort.
I do know that Sirius, Severus, and Remus' first names have always strongly suggested to my mind that their families were probably both pure-blooded and rather socially conservative, if not necessarily anti-muggle. Peter, on the other hand, interests me. Possibly his family really were political liberals. But I rather get the impression that they may have been simply a trifle...common.
By the time of Voldemort's rise, however, classical or Latinate names would seem to have become the province of only the very oldest and snootiest families. My suspicion here is that this was a matter of prudence. Voldemort and his Death Eaters were viewed as criminals. They were more a terrorist organization than a political movement, and their members wished to keep their affiliation secret. Only the haughtiest of aristocratic families, such as the Malfoys, could therefore get away with naming a child something like "Draco" without it raising instant suspicion. Most of Harry's contemporaries, even the DEs' children, have either muggle names or names of the straddling-the-political-fence, still-not-quite-muggle-but-nonetheless-socially-acceptable floral variety.
I find it interesting also to note that the classical names that we find in Harry's generation—Terence, Marcus—almost always seem to belong to members of House Slytherin.
—Elkins
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