Is this TOO Harry Potter-y?!!!

[DLB22]

Found out today that we are having a girl. DH and I agreed on a first name ages ago but I'm thinking about middle names. My great great grandmother was a Swiss lady called Hedwig. I think it is really pretty and unusual but DH not so keen! I am a huge Harry Potter fan but would never intentionally seek out a themed name. I like the name itself and the family connection. I am named after my Swiss great aunt (middle name). Just wondered what others think about Hedwig and would you always associate with Harry Potter?!!!

Definitely fine for a middle name.

I think Hedwig is a lovely name and I reckon Harry Potter will have died down a bit (altho never quite gone away as I do think it will be a lasting childrens classic) by the time your daughter is an adult. So I dont think people will constantly be thinking of the owl.

Love the film Hedwig and the angry Inch!! Not sure its so well known as to cause any problem at all however. And she is German isnt she? (the film character not the actor) Im sure there are a lot of German women called Hedwig.

It doesn't sound very nice imo. Like blodwen or brunhilda it sounds very masculine and of the dark ages...although the meanings are lovely! I don't know how a teenage girl would feel about it.

Very important yet obscure... Merope? There aren't many Potter people i'm unfamiliar with, although I am assuming not Fridwulfa, or the gurg of the giants

As a middle name, fine. But as a first name Hedwig would be quite intense. The kind of name that would have you yearning to be called Jane.

I don't think it's an easy name for a child to wear but I wouldn't say it isn't usable children tend to be more accommodating than adults... If you decide to retire think may I suggest to you:
Hester
Hildegard
Gertrude
Anneleise
Heidi
Gerda

I think it absolutely screams Harry Potter (which I don't see going away, it's insanely popular in schools). I'd use Heddy.

@TheImprobableGirl no not that obscure! Just not key players in the main game. We heard of them in the pensieve and met them at st. Mungo's.

Thankfully they are both also family names so happily hidden!

Ooh Alice and Frank?

Love it! Hedy for short like Hedy Lamarr!

I teach a Hermione - named after her grandmother. She hates being asked if her parents loved Harry Potter - and Hermione is a name that people have heard of. Hedwig is not a common name in the UK ...

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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...

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

Could you flip it?

Wighed, would that work?

(Pronounced Wig-hed not Why-d.)

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

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.