Is this TOO Harry Potter-y?!!!

None of my DCs friends know their middle names, and none of my friends know mine.

No one cares about them so go wild xx

if she starts speaking in parseltongue from her 4th birthday i'll send her away

Redoing the test until she got the answer she wanted is such a Slytherin thing to do!

@PerfectlysymmetricalButtocks

You should see her have a three-nager tantrum - its like voldemort reincarnated!

I thought of Hester as a great alternative to Hedwig too!

For more more obscure HP names there is Eileen, Andromeda (!), Lavender, Sybil, Milicent, Minerva (not obscure but nice), Padma.

Or there's Ginevra - Ginny Weasley's name. Or Molly come to that!

My son is R.A.B.

We had RB all picked out and his Dad (who knows nothing about HP) then got dead set on the A middle name.

TheImprobableGirl your DD2 is scary! 😂

Just did it, and yes, she is Ravenclaw! I think the fact that the worst thing someone can call her is ignorant did it! 😂

I would think HP but one of the great things about Harry Potter is that it has made some fantastic old names popular again. And since it's a family name you have every 'right' to use it.

How do you get sorted into a Pottermore house? Although I think I already know that DD's Ravenclaw. She is Luna! 😂

I have fond memories of drunken dinner parties in my mid-20s where we all insisted on calling each other by our middle names. Mine is rather 70s and a woman with this name was well-known for an advert for Luton Airport. Hedwig would go down well!

If you love it and it means something to your family then don't be put off.

Not sure about flipping it and calling your baby wig-head though.

I have a French friend named Edwige (ed-veej) which is very similar without the connotations.

Could you flip it?

Wighed, would that work?

(Pronounced Wig-hed not Why-d.)

I wouldn't associate it with Harry potter, but the common British mispronunciation of the name would put me off.

dd1 was interested in getting sorted into her pottermore house at 6 - far too sensitive for the films though, anything not animated causes horrendous nightmares - I thought a three-headed dog too much, let alone old Mouldy Voldy.

dd2 decided she wanted to be sorted at the same time but cried because she was in Slytherin and it looked snake-y.... we had to redo the test with three different e-mails until she got into Ravenclaw. (I told her that she shouldn't have put she wanted to be Feared, and her greatest wish was Power...) She is 3.

dd1 has started reading the books now she is 7, but depending on how the first one goes (only a quarter of the way through) I will have to monitor going on to the Chamber of Secrets...

@RavenWings at what age are the kids usually interested in reading Harry Potter? Just prepping myself for the kids!

I have teenagers who very much see Harry Potter as something of their childhood. Maybe that's because she is the generation who were more film than book orientated, perhaps younger generations will make their own connection rather than living through all the marketing hype. Perhaps that's more me speaking though as I just don't really think Harry Potter is really that great. I asked dd what she thought and she did immediately make the connection but said 'for a person?? She thinks it's only a good name for a pet bird and that there are much better Harry Potter names/characters to name after if you want to make that reference, although I get that's not the OP's primary motivation.

I didn't even remember the Harry Potter connection, and I'm not sure Harry Potter is currently or likely to be cool enough in the future for a child to be positive about the name.

I teach in a primary school, Harry Potter is still incredibly popular among the kids. Mind you, that's why I'm saying to not use it.

My great grandmother was also called Hedwig! Didn't dare use it myself, but we have used a very German/Swiss middle name

DD 10 (a Harry Potter nut) thinks that it's too Harry Potter-y - unless you're Swiss!

@nooka kids are Still Harry Potter obsessed and will continue to be so.

My dd is named after two of her great grandmothers, but these are people that dh and I knew and loved and can tell stories about. A great great great grandmother is so remote as to no longer be a connection, it's just an 'I saw this name in our family tree and liked it'. I don't think that's enough to justify Hedwig which I think to most people is just a very odd name. I didn't even remember the Harry Potter connection, and I'm not sure Harry Potter is currently or likely to be cool enough in the future for a child to be positive about the name.

What about looking at your family tree again and finding an alternative name with a Swiss connection?

Ah fair enough - I know who you mean and yes, honourable mentions, beautiful names too!