If there's one author who pays incredibly close attention to her characters' names, it's JK Rowling. There's so often something clever about her choice of moniker in the Harry Potter novels, from the lupine Remus Lupin to the perplexing Tom Marvolo Riddle.

Advertisement

Well, the author is at it again, as this smart little detail about American wizarding school Ilvermorney shows.

Ilvermorny's origin can be traced back to a pure-blood Irish girl named Isolt Sayre. Born around 1603, she was obsessed with Hogwarts and fantasised about going to school, according to new information released by Rowling online.

Sayre cut off her hair and fled to America on the Mayflower, pretending to be a Muggle boy named Elias Story. She later went on to found the US Hogwarts.

Clever, eh?

More like this

Now, if you look carefully... Isolt Sayre is an anagram of Elias Story, pointed out in this sharp-eyed Reddit post.

What's even cooler is that Elias Story was a real historical figure, who died during his first winter in America in around 1620 after sailing on the Mayflower.

Advertisement

It looks like Rowling looked at a list of passengers and created Isolt's character's name from that.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement