Technically, Harry is a shortened form of another name, or had it roots from said name, or something, like 'Katie' or 'Kate' is for Katherine/Katheryne/Catherine etc.

Hadrian, Harold etc.

 

His name's Harry. Just Harry.

 

This. Just like people can be named Alex but not Alexander, Harry is Harry, not Harold or Hadrian.

 

The other "Just Harry" thing I hate, is where he gains a load of power and is still "Oh no, I'm just Harry, no one special". Yeah, he said he was "just Harry" in PS...never again in the series that I can recall. It certainly wasn't the long pattern of declarations of normality that some authors seem to believe it was.

 

Completely agree. It annoys the hell out of me when he goes on about how no one can see "just Harry", because they all see "Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived" or something along those lines. Also typically used as the reasoning behind some horribly written romance.

I suppose that just all falls under the umbrella of shit stories with more angst than plot, but it's a particularly annoying aspect.

 

Really? How the fuck is that even possible?

 

Easily. He's never met a person whose actual given name is Harry, only Harolds and Hadrians whose names were shortened to "Harry".

 

Or it could just be a coincidence. The first time I ever met a Harry (except a Harriet) was last September, when I went to Uni. That was just the way it worked out.

 

Even since coming to Uni I've literally never met anyone called Harry, at least not that I can think of off hand. Then again, I've also not met anyone called Harrison or Harold either.

 

Huh. I guess being in London makes you meet a more diverse number of people, with at least 12 of them being 'Harry'...

 

Harry is NOT necessarily a shortened version of Harold, though that's probably more common than not. Who the fuck ever heard of "Hadrian" though? Some idiot decides to add an H to Adrian?

That's almost as bad as the trend of (mostly) black kids' names being D'Andre and D'Angelo and LaDanian and LaMarcus and LaSean. Everyone just wants to add something "special" to a regular old fucking name, in hopes that their kid will become a famous [insert sport here] player with the help of some retarded name recognition.

As bad as I hate Ray Lewis, at least he's not LaRayshon Lewis...

/rant

Anyway, I've never met a Hadrian or a Harriet, and I've only met a couple Harrys. I didn't ask if it was short for Harold, 'cause I didn't care. If you tell me your name is Mike I'm going to call you Mike, not ask if it's Michael.

And nowhere in all seven books is Harry Potter called anything other than Harry. Even when he's addressed by his full name, it's only Harry James Potter. That right there ought to tell you all you need to know to understand it's Harry, not Harold or something fucking stupid like Hadrian.

 

Try the Romans...as in the Emperor Hadrian.

 

One Roman fag did it, that's it, and all he did was build a wall so low I could just climb it with my bare hands. History has only one allotment for Hadrians.

 

Actually there also is a gate that was built in his honour at 130 AD, in Antalya.

 

Well, fuck him and the little boys he rode in on.

What he said.

/checks poster's location

The only reason you know this is because of where you are or where you grew up.

My point stands: Who the fuck ever heard of a Hadrian? If we're going with one-off Roman asshats, then Commodus is a well-known name.

 

Well, this peeve has probably been beat to death on 5 separate occasions in this thread. But, Jimmy is a nickname version of James, even though there are plenty of people who are just named Jimmy (Jim). And that's the case for Harry. If it is a nickname, it's usually from Henry. But hell, if Prince Harry uses the name Harry and not his actual birth name, then there is no reason why Harry should be called anything other than Harry either. Using any of the other names is just a cheap, shallow attempt at making a story seem more 'formal', and I think that's what bothers me most about it.

 

Yeah the name variations annoy me, I also hate when people use stupid excuses like Dumbledore made the Potter's name him Harry so he would less of a "threat" Although I can't remember the story that was in.

 

Oh, I'm not disagreeing with his name being a 'nickname' for something more...douchey - just stating the fact.

 

This thread has royally pissed me off now. Maybe because i'm studying Latin, and Roman history, or maybe because it reminded me of some god awful stories, but the main fact is, Hadrian did a lot more than build a wall. He defended the Roman Britain from rebels, re-built a couple towns, and temples, was a humanist, and one of the 5 good emperors.

Rant over. Apologies for it.

 

Can't blame people for being uncultured