# 'Hermione' meaning? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 25, 2004, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hermione-meaning/271037 "2004-10-25T12:50:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hermione-meaning/271037/1 "2004-10-25T12:50:47Z")
This is not about the character in the Harry Potter series. ‘Hermione’ is of Greek origin, and I’ve found: ‘Earthy’ (or ‘Of the Earth’), ‘Eloquence’, ‘Well born’, and ‘Stone’. Which is it? Where did the name come from? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hermione-meaning/271037/2 "2004-10-25T13:08:23Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > This is not about the character in the Harry Potter series. > > ‘Hermione’ is of Greek origin, and I’ve found: ‘Earthy’ (or ‘Of the Earth’), ‘Eloquence’, ‘Well born’, and ‘Stone’. Which is it? Where did the name come from? Dennis is an Anglicization of French Denis which in turn comes from Dionysius – “of or pertaining to the god Dionysos.” Hermione is similar in origin, and I don’t have the particular etymological sequence at hand, but it’s the feminine form for _hermionis_, with a meaning of “of or pertaining to the god Hermes.” The variant characteristics ascribed to him in mythology give rise to the “meanings of the name” in baby books, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hermione-meaning/271037/3 "2004-10-25T13:10:08Z")
Didn’t Hermes want to be a dentist? 😕 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hermione-meaning/271037/4 "2004-10-25T13:12:19Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > Didn’t Hermes want to be a dentist? 😕 > > 😃 SWEET MANATEE OF GALILEE! 🆒😃 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hermione-meaning/271037/5 "2004-10-25T13:18:07Z")
I found this page on [Hermes](http://www.pantheon.org/articles/h/hermes.html). From time to time I’ve come across books and pages that explain who the ancient gods were, but I’ve never actually read the stories. Are there any books that tell the legends themselves, instead of just the biographies? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hermione-meaning/271037/6 "2004-10-25T13:23:51Z")
I’ve now found [this](http://www.sulkyblue.co.uk/classics/encyc/h.html) by searching on ‘Hermes’ and ‘Hermione’ and excluding the Harry Potter stuff: > [@](#): > > The daughter of Helen and Menelaus. She was betrothed to her cousin Orestes by her grandfather, Tyndareus. However when the Greeks returned from Troy she was married to Neoptolemus. Orestes killed Neoptolemus and married Hermione. Looks as if I have more reading to do. Thanks for the ‘Hermes’ tip, **Polycarp**! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hermione-meaning/271037/7 "2004-10-25T21:14:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Didn’t Hermes want to be a dentist? Ironic, since both of the Granger parents in the Harry Potter books are dentists. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hermione-meaning/271037/8 "2004-10-25T23:21:58Z")
According to _Bulfinch’s Mythology_, Hermione was the daughter of Helen and Menelaus. She married Neoptolemus, son of Achilles ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hermione-meaning/271037/9 "2004-10-25T23:58:46Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Ironic, since both of the Granger parents in the Harry Potter books are dentists. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hermione-meaning/271037/10 "2004-10-27T06:04:08Z")
Not to mention a certain order and type of magic called ‘hermetic.’ ## Peace. I have a dental extraction hermetically sealed in a jar. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hermione-meaning/271037/11 "2004-10-27T09:39:31Z")
> [@moriah](#): > > Not to mention a certain order and type of magic called ‘hermetic.’ Which is also named after a Hermes - [Hermes Trismigestus](http://www.pballew.net/planets.html), the alleged, although sadly apocryphal, author of many esoteric texts, including The Emerald Tablet. He was the Greek Hermes melded with the Egyptian Toth. As an aside, none of this is accidental. Rowling has an astounding knowledge of Western Esoteric Magick. Most of her characters, books and theories are based on actual or mythological people, books or theories. Always makes me giggle when Fundamentalists go crazy because she’s “promoting witchcraft” via broomsticks and magic wands. Um, no…but there’s a whole new generation who now knows who [Nicholas Flamel](http://www.alchemylab.com/flamel.htm) was!