# Harry Potter



## Encolpius

Hello, after translating the name *literally *into Hungarian I get a completely natural-sounding Hungarian name. Fazekas (Potter) is a very common Hungarian surname. Do you get the same result after translating it into your language? Thanks a lot. 

*Hungarian*: Fazekas Henrik


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## rusita preciosa

Russian: *Гappи Гончар* [Garry Gonchar]

(there is no Russian form of the name Harry / Henry, so it is just a transliteration; gonchar = pottery maker)


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## Lavinia.dNP

In Italian, that would sound like *Enrico Vasari*.

It is a perfectly natural sounding name, and I'm sure there are a lot of Enrico Vasari in Italy.


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## Lavinia.dNP

In French : *Henri Pottier*.

In French, such a name would sound totally normal. I didn't search the directory to see if there are any, but I'm sure there are people with this name in France.


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## Encolpius

rusita preciosa said:


> Russian: *Гappи Гончар* [Garry Gonchar]
> 
> (there is no Russian form of the name Harry / Henry, so it is just a transliteration; gonchar = pottery maker)



Wow, interesting replies. 

And maybe there is also Goncharov, isn't?
And then, Garry Kasprarov is actually Harry.


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## rusita preciosa

Encolpius said:


> Wow, interesting replies.
> 
> And maybe there is also Goncharov, isn't?
> And then, Garry Kasprarov is actually Harry.


Goncharov could work too, except it literally means something like "from a line of pottery-makers / son of a pottery-maker", whereas Gonchar is "potter". 

Also, not sure if Garry Kasparov is actually Harry, there is a very common name Gary (at leat in the US) . GK's name sounds "foreign" to a Russian ear anyway.

EDIT: Gary with one "r", like Gary Cooper


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## apmoy70

In Greek too, it sounds natural:
Ερρίκος Κεραμέας
Er*i*kos Ceram*e*as
(Harry Potter)
[c] is a voiceless palatal plosive

Edit: The name Harry Potter remaines untranslated though both in the books and the movies, just transliterated: Χάρι Πότερ


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## Encolpius

apmoy70 said:


> In Greek too, it sounds natural:
> Ερρίκος Κεραμέας
> Er*i*kos Ceram*e*as
> (Harry Potter)
> [c] is a voiceless palatal plosive



Amazing, It works even in Greek.


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## Maroseika

In fact any language should have surnames derivated from the pot/potter . Another Russian one is Горшков from горшок - pot.

Maybe Карапаев is from Kyrgiz карапа - clay pot, clay items.


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## Encolpius

Maroseika said:


> In fact any language should have surnames derivated from the pot/potter . Another Russian one is Горшков from горшок - pot.
> 
> Maybe Карапаев is from Kyrgiz карапа - clay pot, clay items.



Yes, any language can form it, but the result might not sound natural. The funny thing is if it is a real name. But I really do not know if the surname Potter is as common as e.g. in Hungarian.


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## Awwal12

> Another Russian one is Горшков from горшок - pot.


Горшков ~ Pots, not Potter. 
I would prefer Горшечников (everybody here totally forgot this surname ) and Гончаров (mentioned by *Encolpius*).
Гончар, of course, is semantically equal to Potter, but this surname should be very rare.


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## Frank06

Hi,

In *Dutch*, the name remains Harry Potter.
_Harry_ is not an uncommon first name in these regions (a bit old fashioned these days), and _Potter_ (or variants as De Potter) is an existing family name in the Netherlands and Flanders. Potter/De Potter also refers to the profession.
Besides, we don't have the habit of "translating" names of fictional characters (maybe only in little children's books or dito movies).

Groetjes,

Frank


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## Favara

Catalan: _Enric Terrissaire_ (or _Terrisser_)
Not a common surname...


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## Encolpius

Frank06 said:


> Hi,
> 
> In *Dutch*, the name remains Harry Potter.
> _Harry_ is not an uncommon first name in these regions (a bit old fashioned these days), and _Potter_ (or variants as De Potter) is an existing family name in the Netherlands and Flanders. Potter/De Potter also refers to the profession.
> 
> Groetjes,
> 
> Frank



Very interesting, you use Potter, too.


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## Bartocus123

In Spanish: *Enrique Alfarero* (though *Alfaro* sounds more "natural").



rusita preciosa said:


> Russian: *Гappи Гончар* [Garry Gonchar]
> 
> (there is no Russian form of the name Harry / Henry, so it is just a transliteration; gonchar = pottery maker)



What about *Генрих* = *Genrikh*?


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## rusita preciosa

Bartocus123 said:


> What about *Генрих* = *Genrikh*?


Didn't think about that one. It is a possibility, but to me *Генрих* sounds German rather than Russian, and equally as "foreign" as Garry.


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## Awwal12

rusita preciosa said:


> Didn't think about that one. It is a possibility, but to me *Генрих* sounds German rather than Russian, and equally as "foreign" as Garry.


Sure. "Генрих" isn't an Orthodox Russian name, and therefore isn't traditional. Some crazy parents, of course, theoretically can give such a name to a child, but it is very uncommon. In such a case I would bet that these parents are either Jews or Russian Germans.


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## Hakro

There are very few Finnish names meaning a profession, and it's impossible to think that _Savenvalaja_ or _Ruukuntekijä_ could be family names.

Harry is spelled _Harri_ in Finnish.


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## Encolpius

Hakro said:


> There are very few Finnish names meaning a profession, and it's impossible to think that _Savenvalaja_ or _Ruukuntekijä_ could be family names.
> 
> Harry is spelled _Harri_ in Finnish.



So far the first language that does not use professions.


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## Outsider

Henrique Oleiro in Portuguese.

While Henrique is a common surname, I don't recall ever hearing about anyone called Oleiro.

P.S. Nevertheless, there are indeed people with the last name Oleiro, as I verified through a web search!


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## Tamar

In Hebrew it's הארי פוטר, transliteration of the name in English.


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## Encolpius

Outsider said:


> Henrique Oleiro in Portuguese.
> 
> While Henrique is a common surname, I don't recall ever hearing about anyone called Oleiro.
> 
> P.S. Nevertheless, there are indeed people with the last name Oleiro, as I verified through a web search!



Hmm...is there any reason why there are no "Potters" in Portugal? Were there no potters in Portugal in the Middle Ages? Don't you use another ancient name instead of Oleiro?


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## amikama

Tamar said:


> In Hebrew it's הארי פוטר, transliteration of the name in English.


I think that it's transliterated Harry Potter in most languages, no? 

But the original question was about direct _translation _of Harry Potter. As far as I know, Harry has no equivalent name in Hebrew, but the most similar Hebrew names are probably אריה (Arye) or ארי (Ari), both mean "lion". Potter in Hebrew means קדר (Kadar), so Harry Potter in Hebrew would be אריה קדר or ארי קדר. Both names sound natural (I think), although קדר is not a common surname.


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## Outsider

Encolpius said:


> Hmm...is there any reason why there are no "Potters" in Portugal?


There are some, as I found out from the Web. I'm unaware of any other traditional term for "potter" besides _oleiro_.


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## bibax

Czech: Jindřich Hrnčíř (an existing name of real persons)

Jindřich is a Czech form of the German Heinrich.

From unknown reasons we say Jindřich VIII. (Henry the VIII), but Harry Potter and not Jindřich (or Jindra) Potter.


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## RaLo18

amikama said:


> although קדר is not a common surname.



What about קידר (_keydar_)? while I've never heard of קדר as a surname, קידר is an existing surname (מרדכי קידר, דבורה קידר etc.), and it seems to be related.


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## Miguelillo 87

Bartocus123 said:


> In Spanish: *Enrique Alfarero* (though *Alfaro* sounds more "natural")


 
Yes I agree; Alfarero it's not a common surname, as a matter of fact I'll dare to say It doesn't exist in Spanish last names. 

Alfaro maybe it's its variation, and of course Enrique Alfaro sounds perfect!!! But not magical  So I prefer Harry Potter.

About Mexican languages:
+
In Nahuatl (Aztec language): Enrique Tepalkatekatl

In Mayan: Máak ku meyahtik k’at (Not commmon at all)


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## Bartocus123

Miguelillo 87 said:


> Yes I agree; Alfarero it's not a common surname, as a matter of fact I'll dare to say It doesn't exist in Spanish last names.
> 
> Alfaro maybe it's its variation, and of course Enrique Alfaro sounds perfect!!! But not magical  So I prefer Harry Potter.



Yes, *Alfarero* doesn't exist  I never said that.

---

In German: *Heinrich Töpfer* (or Toepfer).


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## Perkele

Hakro said:


> There are very few Finnish names meaning a profession, and it's impossible to think that _Savenvalaja_ or _Ruukuntekijä_ could be family names.
> 
> Harry is spelled _Harri_ in Finnish.


http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/valaja

I think you can call a potter valaja and a Potter Valaja. There are about a hundred of Valajas in Finland.

*in Finnish:*
Harri Valaja


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## amikama

RaLo18 said:


> What about קידר (_keydar_)? while I've never heard of קדר as a surname, קידר is an existing surname (מרדכי קידר, דבורה קידר etc.), and it seems to be related.


I thought of קידר too, but I have no idea what it means, nor whether it's related to קדר or not.


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## origumi

amikama said:


> I thought of קידר too, but I have no idea what it means, nor whether it's related to קדר or not.


The basic meaning of קידר is "dark" or "black". In the Bible קידר is a nomadic tribe who lived in black tents like today's Beduins. The modern Hebrew name is not a translation but based on sound: names like Coronio, Castro, Carbitzki were changed to קידר.

קדר = potter is called like that apparently because the pots were dark - either made of black material or burnt in fire.


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