People Are Just Finding Out What Dumbledore's Name Means

It’s a monumental day for all those Harry Potter obsessed out there – it’s the 20^th anniversary since Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was released in cinemas.

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Yep, the adorable little Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint became household names after their big screen debut in 2001, as a generation of young fans became obsessed with JK Rowling’s world of witchcraft and wizardry.

But while some of us Potterheads pride ourselves on our Harry Potter trivia, us Muggles are still shocked to discover there are some things about the wizarding world we were in the dark about.

Case in point, we’ve only just learned what the name Dumbledore actually means – and we’re taken aback.

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It turns out that Dumbledore is an Old English word for ‘bumblebee’ (adorable!), with JK Rowling picking the onomatopoeic name as it seemed to ‘suit’ the headmaster.

Speaking to American bookstore Barnes and Noble back in 1999, Rowling explained she ‘collects’ weird names in the hope of using them in her books.

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“Dumbledore…seemed to suit the headmaster,” she said. “One of his passions is music and I imagined him walking around humming to himself.”

And fans are shocked to reveal the name’s true meaning.

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Taking to Twitter, one particularly mindblown fan said: “Are you sh***ing me, Dumbledore literally translates to an Old English way of saying bumblebee?”

"I just found out that Dumbledore is Old English for bumble bee and it’s fascinated me!” a second added.

“I didn't know dumbledore came from the Sussex word for bumblebee!” a third said.

Albus Dumbledore is a powerful figure in the wizarding world. The headteacher of Hogwarts school, he was a prominent figure in the franchise, with his death in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince left fans across the world aghast.

The cryptic character led Harry to defeat Voldemort, but more recent re-readings of the Harry Potter novels have considered Dumbledore to be more of a villain for not being more upfront with Harry about what his future entailed.

Topics: Harry Potter, TV And Film

Kimberley Bond

Kim is a journalist at Tyla, and has previously worked at the Evening Standard, Radio Times as well as several national newspapers. A showbiz obsessive and a television fanatic, Kim is particularly interested in celebrity gossip, A-list events and the latest releases on either the big or small screen. Contact her at [email protected]

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