Hogwarts: why such an ugly name for a beautiful place?

Question

It's beautiful in my mind - I haven't seen any of the films.

Answer 1

Jo Rowling, the author, has this sort of recurring theme on the whole Harry Potter series -- nothing is what it seems. I think it's very appropriate too since it's a world of magic. Nothing may seem what they are until you get to know the inside. A lot of examples too -- the majestic Thestrals, Dolores Umbridge's faux sweetness, or even Snape -- are peppered here and there.

Hogwarts sounds a lot like a hog's warts. Though very unpleasant, it holds a very beautiful "institution" for the gifted wizards and witches.

Very nice stories too. Especially the last one.

Answer 2

It is a beautiful place, isn't it? My image of Hogwarts was ruined before I read though, because I saw the first movie first! Everything not mentioned there was from my own mind (only to be ruined later)

Hogwarts... it's just very distinctive, it's not something you can forget. Plus, it's kind of making fun of all the stereotypes of witches and wizards.

Answer 3

No one knows why JKR named it that way, not even JKR herself. Excerpt from http://www.hp-lexicon.org/hogwarts/w_pl_hogwarts.html:

The name "Hogwarts" is actually the name of a flower. JKR said: "Ideas come from all sorts of places and sometimes I don't realise where I got them from. A friend from London recently asked me if I remembered when we first saw Hogwarts. I had no idea what she was talking about until she recalled the day we went to Kew Gardens and saw those lilies that were called Hogwarts. I'd seen them seven years before and they'd bubbled around in my memory. When Hogwarts occurred to me as a name for the school, I had no idea where it came from."

So there, she named it Hogwarts for no particular reason, like most greatideas, it just occurred to her.

Answer 4

I think the name is to exude pretige and be distingueshed, in a wizarding world where toads can become princes or muggles can be turned to toads and with the play on the witches wart I think it works. It neds ot be catchy and roll off the tongue, but indeed it is beautiful. My mother's friend is related to the historical family that lived in the castle which was used as the location for Hogwarts.

Answer 5

Well i dont think its ugly at all.
Hogwarts , hogwarts hoggy warty hogwarts
Teach us something plz.
Anyway i dont understand how a building could be beautiful and its not really a castle is lots of different rooms all over the world being filmed in. The gringots bank is some church in australia for example.
It is kind of pretty at nice!
SIRIUS WILL RISE AGAIN<3
HARRY POTTER FOREVER!!

Answer 6

Well, if you were going to a school of Witchcraft an Wizardry you wouldn't want the name to be "Tommy's Magic Workshop and School." Or, "New York's Best Magic Place" you'd want the name to be mysterious and magic. Make people wonder, "Sounds spooky, yet mysterious. Definitely a place where people learn magic."

Besides, it's an interesting name! Just be glad it isn't a boring name!

Answer 7

i think the name added to the series and made it that much more interesting. u wouldn't want some boring name for a school as magical as Hogwarts would u?

Answer 8

Maybe for the same reason JKR chose her 3 heros to be:
- the kid of dentists (except when I have a tooth ache, I avoid dentists)
- a freckled baby brother in everyone else's shadow
- and a skinny kid with glasses and a facial scar
... not what you'd call the coolest kids at school

Answer 9

Hogwarts isnt an ugly name, and the place isnt that beautiful, its all old and dusty, yet magical and mysterious

Answer 10

Pigs are cute and warts are sexy.