Both Names from the same piece of fiction?

[RainforestGarden]

Hello,

We've finally agreed on a boys name that we both like. (We had a girls name picked out before we we even conceived.) We've realised however that both names (not too common) are those of minor characters in a very well-known and well-loved series of children's books (and films.) Is this a problem? Would you assume we named the siblings after the book? If the names were Ron and Hermione I wouldn't even bother to ask, but they are minor characters...

Many thanks for any honest feedback you can offer.

Please be Emmett and Renesmee.

How minor, and do they "go together" in the book?

Is there any point in the book where the phrase "name and name" is used?

Please let it be titty and roger :)

It's Ariana and Cedric. Cedric being the champion of one of the other houses at Hogwarts and Ariana being Dumbledore's long deceased sister so they never go on any adventures together. If the books hadn't been quite such a phenomenon I wouldn't worry at all. (Harry Potter series that is.)

(Although we have already been forced to rule out Edmund as a boys name because the middle name is to Peter to honour FIL - I really did read The Lion, the Witch and The Wadrobe too many times as a child.)

Depends on what they are!

I am a HP obsessive and I wouldn't have picked that up. It's fine.

There are so many characters in the HP books that I bet there are loads of families with pairings of the lesser characters names - Molly and George, or Charlie and Lily etc. It's not like you're going for Nymphadora and Cornelius.

Thank you all for the reassurance. If anyone feels differently please do post. I'd rather abandon one of the names than regret it later. (I shudder to think of the nicknames Nymphadora would generate - no wonder she went by Tonks - Apologies to anybody planning on using the name.)

I didn't even remember Ariana from HP, I always think of Ariana from The Belgariad anyway. They are so unconnected you'll be fine!

There are hundreds of names in Harry Potter, and those two have nothing to do with one another (one is dead before the other is even mentioned)

I'm a huge HP fan and totally didn't get the connection. It's fine I think!

It depends. Is it a book that absolutely everybody has read? A real classic that everybody knows the names of the characters even if they haven't read the book. Eg like to kill a mockingbird, I confess I haven't read it but even I know that there is a Jem and a Scout in it. Would the association be that unavoidable?

I got the connection but only because you said there was one. They don't even appear in the same books! You'll be fine with those names

oh Right, well, I've sat through all of the films, my dd is always telling me about what happened in this book or that book and I've heard of cedric but not Ariana

HP lover here too and I didn't spot them. They're fine :)

Cedric made me think of Sofia the first cartoon not HP. No idea of other name.

DH has just asked if they are both Borrowers!

My sister in law has lily and James- that I did get. I really had to think about yours. Not obvious enough to be an issue in my opinion.

Wouldn't have made the connection at all. It's not as if it's Cedric and cho or albus and ariana!

Definitely not a problem. I quite like the idea of sneaking using minor HP characters for all my children, I have one already! But wouldn't have spotted that at all.

That would never have occurred to me. I think you're fine.

I think it's fine, Cedric I remember from HP but not Ariana.

Sorry but I love Ariana whereas Cedric could open up a lifetime of teasing for the poor little chap.It's like Cuthbert or Cecil-cartoon posh.

Mine have a far more obvious HP pairing but I realised before I named DC2 and don't care! OH has never read the books or seen the films so is oblivious :-)

I wouldn't have had a clue that both were in Harry Potter - I've never, to my knowledge, even heard the name Ariana before (though presumably I must've done as I've read most of the books) - but I think it's a lovely name. Cedric I'm not keen on personally and, because it's not common, I'd say you're much more likely to have people saying "As in Harry Potter?" - depends if that bothers you!