Harry Potter’s Voldemort is a chilling character in his own right and the meaning of his name only adds another layer of terror to the series’ most evil villain. Many don’t even dare speak his name, instead referring to him only as “You-Know-Who” or “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.” Yet at the encouragement of Dumbledore, Harry Potter typically called Voldemort by his chosen name as a way to refuse giving the villain an unnecessary amount of power over him.
Most character names in Harry Potter have a deeper meaning, one that lends itself to affirming who that person is, what they are meant to do, or is sometimes a literary or mythical character upon which they are based. Draco Malfoy’s name conjures images of a dragon and a last name that loosely translates from French to “mal” meaning “evil” and “foy” sharing a similarity to “foi,” meaning faith. Still other characters simply carry a name that evokes a laugh, like Neville Longbottom (via Insider). Harry Potter’s Voldemort doesn’t just look creepy, however; his name translates into something that is very on point for the franchise’s big bad.
J.K. Rowling has often taken inspiration from the French language to come up with Harry Potter character names. Voldemort is one of those characters. When pieced apart, “vol” means “flight,” “de” means “of” or “from,” and “mort” means "death." So all together, his name means either “flight of death” or “flight from death.” Interestingly, both translations make sense for this character, both hinting at what he is capable of.
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Voldemort flies without the assistance of a broom. Rowling has clarified that powerful witches and wizards possess the ability to do magical things without an object to help them channel that energy (via Twitter). Given a wand, Harry Potter’s muggles could even cast magic, according to the digital publication Pottermore. Voldemort, a character that is practically synonymous with death, is so adept at his craft, he doesn’t need a broom to fly, and the translation of his name, “flight of death,” hints at his ability to do so.
Equally foreshadowing is the other translation of his name, “flight from death.” It is revealed in a flashback sequence during Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that Tom Marvolo Riddle, who would later become Voldemort, learned about horcruxes from Horace Slughorn, Hogwarts’ Potions professor at the time. In an effort to preserve his soul for decades to come, Tom Riddle used dark magic in Harry Potter, creating horcruxes, enabling him to flee from death itself, once again confirming the deeper meaning of his new chosen name, Voldemort.
In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, it is revealed to the titular character that “Tom Marvolo Riddle” is an anagram for “I am Lord Voldemort,” which is a fascinating revelation, but even more so knowing that “Voldemort” is more than a word that just so happened to serve the anagram well. Whether “flight of death” or “flight from death,” Voldemort’s name clearly hinted at what he was capable of all along. The translation might be old news to eagled-eyed Harry Potter fans, but for others, the realization will only now affirm just how chilling the name Voldemort really is.
