This thread has made me think a little about the very different way that Rowling and Tolkien use names, linguistically.
Rowling's use is playful, like an academic in-joke, as Feanor points out, with names like Sirius, Lupus, Fenrir and son on, often obviously referential to those who know their myths, their Latin and so on.
Tolkien uses names in a more poetic, almost onomatopoeic way. Sometimes he uses historical or cultural associations, but only in a general way (the Rohirrim have Anglosaxon names, the Dwarves have Nordic ones, the Brandybucks have Old Gothic ones) but mostly he seems to have just plucked them out of the air because they sounded beautiful (elves) or nasty (Orcs).
Now who is going to moan about similarities between Aragog and Aragorn?
