Does anyone know if JKR uses the names of friends/acquaintances in her books? I'm sure she has talked of a school friend who had a car like the one in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and she may have used his name as well.
The reason I am asking as over on another thread there was discussion about Harry and Meghan Sussex staying on the island of Tanera Mòr which is owned by a secretive billionaire called Ian Wace.
An interesting article about Ian Wace was posted :
https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2026/03/25/a-laird-for-our-times-questions-of-philanthropy-and-community-in-the-scottish-highlands/
It seems likely that JKR and Wace would know each other, their paths may have crossed related to their charity work, or just that they are both super rich people living in Scotland. Plus Ian’s second wife after his first wife died was Fiona Hardy an Australian writer of crime fiction and children’s fiction.
The way the island and nearby mainland estates is run has certain parallels with Jonathan Wace of the Running Grave, albeit I don't for a minute suggest Ian Wace is involved in anything illegal, nor is he the leader of a weird cult.
But there is control and secrecy.
" it is difficult to convey the spirit, the mood and the aesthetic of the place which Wace – and his many highly skilled employees – have created there. Not least of these difficulties is that all staff and visitors have had to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), thus preventing or inhibiting the communication of their experiences to the outside world. When asked about the reasons for the NDAs Wace, or his spokespeople, resort to saying ‘Tanera may seem like a mysterious place sometimes, but this is largely to keep the mystique and magic for those who visit’"
"At one level the island remains a place for the wealthy, the rich and famous to be invited for short restorative stays. Who these people continues to be a well-kept secret but, of course, rumours abound about celebrities and members of the royal family being spotted boarding the speedboat from the Badentarbat jetty to the island. I return to the publicised charitable aims of the project below, but it needs reiterating that Tanera has been developed as a location to please the business elites and the wealthy of the world. This is made clear by the SIE ‘Operations and Guest Coordination lead’ who, in a Linked In post (June 2024) described the work of the team thus: ‘From wellness retreats and escapes for UHNWIs to offsite gatherings for global finance leaders our team creates space for unique transformative experiences in one of the worlds (sic) most remote and stunning locations’"
"Like many powerful and rich men, Wace attempts to control this public narrative, and has thus far been successful in doing so."
I just feel sure JKR has used his name. Whether as an in joke between friends or a dark dig at someone she is not so keen on I couldn't say.
Anyway please do have a look at the article and share your thoughts. Also if anyone has any recollections regarding whether JKR sometimes uses names of people she knows. (She obviously collects names from other sources or makes up ones with meaning, especially in the Harry Potter books). I think she has talked about it briefly in interviews.