Harry Potter is not a wizard and never attended Hogwarts. He's just a 20-year-old guy from Portsmouth, England, who has the great misfortune of sharing a name with one of the world's most famous fictional characters -- and he's pretty sick of all the jokes. Potter told the Daily Mail that, at first, he thought it was cool to have the same name as the whimsical wizard, but now it's just really annoying. As he told the paper, "After 12 years of it I couldn't count the amount of times I've heard 'You're a wizard, Harry.' It does wear a bit thin after a while. And I've heard all the puns about my wand."
The jokes and remarks have gotten so bad for Potter that he's the only person at his job who doesn't have to use his full name when talking on the telephone. When he first met his girlfriend, he had to show her his passport to prove that his name was real.
To make matters worse, real-life Harry Potter has a scar on his forehead, just like his fictional counterpart. It's not, however, a lightning bolt.
Potter says that the reaction to his name has ranged from the curious to the downright aggressive, and that he wishes that J.K. Rowling had never used his name. Rowling came up with it by combining his favorite boy's name, Harry, with the last name of her childhood neighbors.
This got us thinking: what other fictional characters would it totally suck to share a name with?
Bella Swan from "Twilight" Would you want to spend your high school years mistaken for a klutzy damsel in distress who obsesses over a moody, emotionally manipulative vampire? Come to think of it, we'd feel bad about anyone named Edward Cullen as well.
Ramona Quimby Teachers will make your life miserable when you're named after Beverly Cleary's famous troublemaker. Of course, it could be worse -- you could be named Beezus.
Alexander If you ever have a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, everyone is just going to think it's adorable. No one will take you seriously.
Fudge from "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" and "Superfudge" Your parents named you Fudge. Your life is hard enough.
Tell us: Do you know anyone who has the same name as someone famous? Is it as awful as it is for our friend Harry Potter?
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Tuesday 27 October
By Julie
Not sure what's so bad about having "Alexander" as a man. It's an extremely popular name for Russian men, and I've never heard anyone upset with having this name--unless they didn't like sharing it with 10 million other people.
Reply
Tuesday 27 October
By Tiwi
I used to work with a guy named Chris Daughtry. And no, he wasn't hot or bald.
Reply
Friday 11 December
By jejozi
I worked with Charlie Brown. He wasn't bald, either.
Tuesday 27 October
By Hannah
Just having the first name Hannah is hard. I get called Hannah Montana by almost every person who meets me for the first time! I even had teachers call me that in high school. Now that I am in college I thought it would stop, but sadly, no it hasnt.
Reply
Sunday 01 November
By Hannah
omg me too. Its like they say, im going to call you hannah montana since your name is hannah. well geuss what you cant call me that since i dont hhave a montana at the end of my name.
the only good thing about having the name Hannah is that it still spells Hannah backwards. Its a palendrome.
Sunday 01 November
By jordi
in my school hannah sits beside rico and there is a jackson in our grade. yeah.
Sunday 01 November
By lifesagift23
Haha...my friends name is Hannah Monahan...ten times worse lol
Sunday 01 November
By Hannah
oh my goodness, my name is Hannah too and I get called Hannah Montana ALL the freaking time! And I dont even like her -.-
Sunday 01 November
By hannah
yes! i feel your pain! also hannah banana and ive been called miley too...like shut up!
Sunday 01 November
By Jessica Jonas
Try having Jonas for a last name....
Sunday 01 November
By Jessica
Try having Jonas as a last name
Sunday 01 November
By Raynebow
Yeah, my friend has blonde hair, and sings, and is named... you guessd it, Hannah. People call her Hannah Montana all the time, and she is getting really annoyed with it. Can you blame her though?
With my name, (Raynebow... don't laugh) people think I am supposed to be happy and colorful all the time, and when I am upset, they are like "Why are you sad, you are supposed to be colorful and happy... you're Raynebow, after all!" I want just yell at them. It gets realllyyy annyoing. But I don't know, I guess having your name be Harry Potter or Hannah, for instance, would klind of suck... alot.
Sunday 01 November
By Annika
i have a friend named Hannah too but i've never really heard people call her Hannah Montana. It's probably because she actually like Hannah Montana so people think calling her thought would make her happy...O_O
Sunday 01 November
By Hannah
Trust me i know how you feel with the name Hannah. None of the HM jokes ever stop !
Sunday 01 November
By Hannah
Yes, exactly! I can't count how many times people have called me Hannah Montana and then crack up at their own lame pun. My last name starts with H, so I get "H squared" a lot too, which sounds equally stupid.
Sunday 01 November
By winnie
Hannah i feel you pain. my name is winne and i gt called winnie the pooh all the time.
Wednesday 28 October
By Rachel Sole
My name is Rachel Sole. Thus all my letters are address to Mrs. R. Sole. In Australia thats how we pronounce "as*hole". My family and friends get a laugh out of it, but there is frustration in knowing that I will never be able to put my phone number in the phone book or I risk drunk teenagers calling me every Friday night wanting to speak to Mrs. As*hole.
Reply
Wednesday 28 October
By Brooke
My initials are BS... every one giggles about it, even the guy who was working at the title company when my husband and I bought our house!
Reply
Sunday 01 November
By Jazlyn
big deal, there is a girl in my algebra class whose initials are BS---she embraces it....
Sunday 01 November
By Briana
Yeah, my initials are BS too. Some of my friends occasionally decide to call me bullsh** just for the hell of it. Playing the card game isn't fun either.