One of the wonderous things about JK Rowling's books is the way all the names mean something. And so, I wonder, what does Lily's name mean?
First of all, I'm going to discard Potter from this. It's her married name, and I'm sure I heard somewhere it was only chosen for being such a common name. Anyway, her maiden name is much more interesting.
Lily means, naturally, the Lily flower. It can also be a diminutive of Lilian, which means the same thing, and has many variations. Several of my sources also say it is a diminutive of Elizabeth, from a nickname for that queen. Elizabeth is a name meaning Consecrated to God.
However, I think it is much more likely Lily means just that, and so that's the name I'll be exploring here.
Flowers are known to often be assigned meanings, and Lily has an awful lot of them...
Lily: Coquetry; Pride; Purity; Innocence.
A white lily means purity, modesty, beauty and sweetness, and is most likely the lily Lily is named for. However, several other types of lilies exist, and have different meanings.
The calla lily has meanings of maiden modesty, and magnificent beauty. The day lily means coquetry, which is a meaning shared by the yellow lily. However, the yellow lilly also means falsehood, flirtation and gaiety. A frog lily has the meaning of 'disgust' - which is exactly how Petunia feels about Lily, and a tiger lily says 'I dare you to love me'. Finally, we have the imperial lily and its meaning of majesty.
That's a lot of meanings, and all for one species of flower.
And if we go with the theory of the sounds in a name having meanings, we can discover even more. The 'l' sound is said to be a passive and feminime sound, but also seggests a mysterious force that gets its way simply by going with the flow. And doesn't it just have a gorgeous sound to it?
A short 'i' has a floaty sound, but is a bit tense. The long 'e' sound at the end of her name suggests perseverance in hardships. Rather appropriate, isn't it?
Right. That's all I'm going to say on that. However, we still have her maiden name, and it itself has some rather interesting meanings.
The name Evan is Welsh for John, and so Evans is the same as Johns. John means God is Gracious, but Evan comes from eofn, a word meaning fearless, and bold. That too, in its way, is appropriate for Lily, is it not? She gave up her life for her son, and I think it shows she has a spunkiness she is not often portrayed with.
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Cole's Funny Picture Book