J.K. Rowling Naming Characters

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About

J.K. Rowling Naming Characters is a social media trend parodying the manner in which British writer J.K. Rowling named her Harry Potter characters, as the names and behavioral patterns of certain minority characters in her books has been interpreted as discreetly offensive or stereotypical. Started by a viral 2020 tweet, the parody meme trend was reignited in February 2023 after it was revealed that the video game Hogwarts Legacy will have a transgender character named Sirona Ryan.

Origin

On May 13th, 2020, Twitter^[1] user @AsteadWH tweeted about the perceived discrepancy in the manner Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling named white and non-white characters in her books. The post (shown below) gained over 17.600 retweets and 165,000 likes in two years (shown below, left). On the same day, Twitter^[2] user @martamarxist posted a similar tweet about Irish Harry Potter character Seamus Finnigan (shown below, right).

On January 1st, 2022, Twitter^[3] user @felipetmedinaa posted a joke about J.K. Rowling naming Seamus Finnegan that gained over 6,600 retweets and 119,000 likes in one year (shown below).

Spread

The viral discussion surrounding the manner of J.K. Rowling's naming of minority characters maintained viral status through early 2022. For example, on January 2nd, 2022, Twitter^[4] user @isaiah_bh made a post about Jewish character Anthony Goldstein that gained over 1,900 retweets and 43,500 likes in one year (shown below, left). On January 5th, Twitter^[5] user @ChardineTaylor mad1e a tweet that gained over 710 retweets and 4,400 likes in one year.

On May 25th, 2022, Redditor victor_tab posted a Mario Judah's 'Die Very Rough' GIF caption meme about J.K. Rowling naming an Irish character "Potatofamine Carbomb" that gained over 5,200 upvotes in /r/196^[6] and was widely circulated online (shown below).

On February 6th, 2023, GameRevolution.com reported^[7] that the then-upcoming video game Hogwarts Legacy will introduce a transgender character named Simona Ryan. The tweet was followed by a viral debate surrounding public perception that the chosen name for the character, if interpreted as "SIRona," is meant to mock trans people. For example, on February 6th, Twitter^[8] user @girlmeat5557 posted a meme that gained over 6,500 retweets and 55,700 likes in one day (shown below, left). Twitter^[9] user @seekingbroo then posted a joke that gained over 780 retweets and 8,200 likes in the same period (shown below, right).