Harry Potter Meanings
"Harry Potter" is full of words, spells, and other cool stuff, many of which have hidden meanings or signifigance attached to them.Email me here with additions or corrections.

Albus Dumbledore - Headmaster of Hogwarts

Albus means white in latin, (perhaps refers to his beard), and can mean 'wisdom. Dumbledore is an English word for "bumblebee" - Rowling says she always imagined him 'buzzing' around the castle, whistling tunes to himself

Cornelius Fudge - Minister of Magic

There is an expression "to fudge something", which means, to pretend, or make a poor attempt at it...This seems fitting for Fudge, since he is always sending owls to Dumbledore for help

Deatheaters - Voldemort's followers

-Roberts
-Malfoy
-Dolohov
-Avery
-Pettigrew
-McNair
-Crabbe
-Goyle
-Nott
-Rosier(dead)
-Wilkes(dead)
-Karakoff
-Snape
-Crouch jnr
-Traves
-Lestrange
-Lestrange
-McNair
-Mulciber
-Rookwood And I think Quirrell(dead)

Draco Malfoy - Harry's school enemy

Draco means dragon in latin, 'mal foi' means bad faith in french "Draco was an Athenian Ruler around the seventh century. He was supposed to create a set of laws that were again to promote stability and equity. But they backfired the Athenians remembered him and his rules as harsh and severe" (Thanks Louise)

Fawkes - Dumbledore's pet phoenix

Guy Fawkes was famous for a plot to blow up the government house (i'm sketchy on the details, sorry!) with barrels of gunpowder, This is now celebrated with a fireworks night in some countries. Fawkes the phoenix explodes in flames before being reborn from the ashes

Lucius Malfoy - Draco's father

Lucius, perhaps referring to Lucifer, the fallen angel, 'mal foi' means bad faith in french

Narcissa Malfoy - Draco's mother

Narcissus was the son of the river god Cephissus and the nymph Liriope. Tiresias, the seer, told his parents that the child "would live to an old age if it did not look at itself." Many nymphs and girls fell in love with him but he rejected them. The goddess Nemesis heard the rejected girls prayers for vengeance and arranged for Narcissus to fall in love with his own reflection. He stayed watching his reflection and let himself die. This gives the origin of the narcissus flower, which grew where he died. (Paraphrased from Encyclopedia Mythica)

Mason, Mr - the man invited to dinner in CoS

Mr Mason was a bulider, and a 'mason' is a kind of builder

Nearly-Headless Nick - Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, Griffindor house ghost

The "Nick" part of his name is probably in reference to his botched beheading. A "nick" is a shallow cut. Mimsy is a word coined by Lewis Carrol in "Through the Looking-Glass" for the poem "Jabberwocky". It's a combination of "miserable" and "flimsy".

Remus Lupin - James Potter's friend, Harry's DADA teacher in PoA, werewolf

Remus and Romulus were the founders of Rome, who were brought up by wolves Lupus is a disease in which the body's immune system goes out of control and attacks its own body parts (when Lupin was a werewolf locked in the shack, he scratched himself). It is also the latin term for 'wolf'

Severus Snape - Potions Master, head of Slytherin

Severus = severe (Snape is always very harsh with his students) "There is an ancient Roman coin in existence with one side of it being SEVERUS and the other side being MINERVA the goddess of war also known as Athena in Greek mythology. There was also an ancient Roman emperor named Severus and many scholars agree that he was responsible for the start of reform in the Roman Empire, he wanted to bring back discipline, stability, and pride in trade in the empire."

Viktor = 'victor', and Krum always wins the snitch at quidditch

In French, "Vole de mort" means "flight of Death."

'Gilderoy' was also the name of a famous highwayman of ballad fame who was reputedly handsome.

"There is an ancient Roman coin in existence with one side of it being SEVERUS and the other side being MINERVA the goddess of war also known as Athena in Greek mythology"

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Veriterserum - truth potion

'Veritus' is latin for truth

"Erised" is "desire" backwards

Cockroach Clusters - 'Sweets' bought in hogsmeade, also on of Dumbledores passwords

Apparantly this comes straight from a Monty Python sketch!

The word "Animagus" is a combination of "ani", short for animal and "mage" is a word for sorceror

"Lumen" is Latin for "light", and "luminous" can mean "giving off light

Nox means darkness or night in latin

Knockturn = nocturnal, bad things traditionally happen at night, when its dark

Diagon alley becomes "Diagonally". According to Gretchen, "Diagon Alley" is actually "diagonal ley." A ley line is a line connecting ancient sites of Britain and was thought to have magical powers.

"alright someone down there mentioned ley lines. Now you have to realize i am a ghost fanatic. So i know my fair share on ley lines. ley lines are supposed to be lines of condenced energy where it is very easy for ghosts to make themselfs present. I believe that to have influence on the living world ghosts have to be near a ley line so they can get energy to do something...its a though maybe Hogwarts is on a Major ley line intersection which gives ghosts amazing powers"