She doesn’t have the easiest name since it is Hermione but fans have learned how to correctly pronounce it after the movies came out. Beforehand though?
On Friday, J.K Rowling addresses the mispronunciation of Hermione. For years, many of us didn’t know how to say our favorite character’s name. It is a famous name, one that Shakespeare used himself.
But until we got Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, none of us had any idea how to really say the beloved characters name. So we had to go about it on our own. Many of us either forget what we thought her name was or we remember someone reading it to them incorrectly.
But J.K Rowling had a wonderful quote about not knowing how to pronounce a word. “Never make fun of people for mispronouncing a word. It means they learned it by reading.”
The best part of the mispronunciation story is truly that quote. J.K Rowling wanted us all to read and to learn, it has been that way since most of us were children. Most of us have her to thank for our love of reading today. She encouraged us to to open a book and lose ourself in adventure.
So yes, we may have mispronounced Hermione’s name until Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire but that doesn’t change the fact that we loved reading about this girl who loved books and wanted to help her friends as best she could.
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No matter how you want to call her, J.K Rowling says it is okay. Mainly because Hermione is everyone’s character, not just whatever she is on the page. And if the author tells you it is okay that you called her “Her-me-oh-nee” that it is fine.