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“A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.” Herm Albright

"Where we have strong emotions, we're liable to fool ourselves." Carl Sagan

"Don't try to outweird me, baby; I get stranger things than you free with my breakfast cereal." Zaphod Beeblebrox in 'The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy'

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Jun. 6th, 2006

Informal Poll

I don't have a paid account, so I can't make a regular poll thingy. That wouldn't suit my purposes anyway, as I'm looking for ideas rather than ticky boxes.

I'm writing a story and I need a name that Harry might choose to name his daughter. The situation he finds himself in is extremely stressful - an early morning shock to the system, if you will. He's dealing with the baby, securing her safety, scanning the area for unknown threats, and trying to think who'd be best to contact to help him deal with the child because he has no clue how to care for a baby. So his mind's a bit fractured. There's no input from the mother; he didn't care for her and she's absent from the scene, though he is able to figure out who she must be. It's not Ginny or Hermione. Or Cho, for that matter.

The baby is newborn, no more than a day or so old. He's absolutely sure the child is his, but I can't tell you why. The child has newborn-blue eyes that will change later and be the cliche' amazing green. I think the gene for his eyes is dominant, but that's me. She's nearly bald, but her fuzz is flaxen, though it may darken later. She's rather skinny and unlovely, the product of a stressful pregnancy; she is red faced, squalling, and generally miserable, poor mite.

Given his cultural background, education, and personality, what sort of name would he choose off the top of his head? Would he go with a flower designation after his mother? Would he choose the name of a famous witch? He will probably wait a few hours to name her, until it dawns on him that, if he's to protect her properly, she needs a name and birth certificate.

In my mind, it's unlikely he'd choose, say, a Shakespearean name, as he's not been exposed to Shakespeare. He likely doesn't have a copy of '10,000 Names for Baby' handy, either. He named his owl and gave it some thought, it appears. Would he choose a similar sort of name for his child? He'd surely not name her after his Mum, but he'd likely use 'Lily' as the middle name.

I just can't decide, so I thought I'd see what y'all think.