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Out-of-universe, which name for the lead villain did Rowling come up with first? Did she always intend to have two names for him? Looking for official sources only.

DCOPTimDowd
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We don't know

We have access to very little of J.K. Rowling's original manuscripts, and what we do have sadly doesn't really tell us much.

Of course, in the published books "Voldemort" appears in book one, and "Riddle" doesn't appear until book two. Barely any of our early manuscripts even contain passages with any of those names.

Only three of the released manuscripts seem to mention Voldemort at all.

  • "Red-eyed" - early 1990s

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    An early draft of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (early 1990s)

  • Lord Voldemort - early 1990s

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    A draft of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 17, hand- written by J.K. Rowling (early 1990s)

  • "Voldemort" - 1995

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    Synopsis of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling (1995)

It's possible that either name came first, but without access to more of Rowling's manuscripts we really can't say. We don't have the amount of available infomation that we have with Tolkien's writings.

ibid
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    For the record: This page of notes has the word "Riddle", but it's clearly being used in the traditional sense, not as a name. – ibid Feb 09 '18 at 20:43
  • Actually, it's "Riddle M". It's common in the US to write names as [Last] [MI], [First]. Is this ever done in the UK as well? Riddle M, Thomas – DCOPTimDowd Feb 09 '18 at 21:55
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    @DCOPTimDowd - That's a page where JKR brainstorms various ideas for the sorting ceremony before settling on a talking hat. The full sentence is "Question or Riddle". Each idea is marked with an "M" or an "N". (I'm going to guess they mean "maybe" and "no".) – ibid Feb 09 '18 at 22:09
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    @dcoptimdowd I call shenanigans. In nearly 40 years, have not seen "(Last) (Initial), (First)" even once in the US. "(Last), (First) (Initial)" is quite common. You're making things up to fit your desired narrative. – T.J.L. Feb 10 '18 at 00:54
  • @T.J.L. - All of that discussion is moot. If you look at the page (or read anything of JKR's comments about it), you'll see that it's very clear Rowling didn't mean a name. It's a list of ideas for sorting students, with of them being "Question or Riddle". I only brought it up as a joke. – ibid Feb 11 '18 at 02:57
  • @DCOPTimDowd in the US it would generally be "Riddle, Thomas M." I've never seen [Last][MI],[First] I've only ever seen [Last],[First][Middle] – Matthew Barclay Feb 12 '18 at 19:11
  • and the source for these images from the 1990s is...? – n611x007 Feb 13 '18 at 11:57
  • @n611x007 - "Early 1990" was an approximation based on the fact that they obviously come from before PS was finished. – ibid Feb 13 '18 at 12:09
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    no I mean like, "[early 1990 draft 1 from before PS] first published by the huffington post online in 2012, permalink such-and-such, on pottermore 2014/1/4, permalink this-and-that" – n611x007 Feb 13 '18 at 12:11
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    @n611x007 - Oh. The third image is from the scrapbook section of JKR's old website. (Privately download and archived as the WaybackMachine doesn't do flash.) The first two are from the current British Library "History of Magic" exhibition. (Images taken from one of the tie-in ebooks.) The third source was found there too, but my copy from JKR's website was better quality. I don't think the three have appeared elsewhere. – ibid Feb 13 '18 at 12:18