Highlights
- Translators of Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets altered Tom Riddle’s name to fit different languages, resulting in various unique names.
- Some translations, like Hungarian and Norwegian, completely removed Riddle’s middle name, while others, like French and Catalan, changed it entirely.
- The best Tom Riddle translations can completely change the way series fans see the character due to how different from the original they ended up being.
Towards the end of Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets, Harry learns that the young boy in the diary is hiding a dark secret. With a flick of his wand, Tom Marvolo Riddle rearranges the letters of his name to reveal that they are an annagram of “I am Lord Voldemort”; finally confirming what many readers and viewers had already come to suspect. It was a pretty cool way to disclose the information, but one that caused problems for the people responsible for translating the book.
Many Asian language versions of Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets simply left Riddle’s name unchanged, while most Western versions opted to make small tweaks to the character’s middle name in order to make the words fit. Some translators went all out though, changing the Dark Lord’s name into something completely unrecognizable; often with hilarious results. In fact, some of these Tom Riddle translations are so unusual that learning them may change the way that series fans see the iconic Harry Potter antagonist.
7 Tom Rowle Denem (Hungarian Voldemort)
Nevem Voldemort
In Hungarian, people generally introduce themselves using “Nevem,” which loosely translates to “My name is.” As a result of this, the I in “Riddle” was no longer needed, forcing the person who translated the book into Hungarian to scrap Voldemort’s family name entirely. This, in turn, led to Tom Rowle Denem, with the W in Rowle providing the two Vs needed for Nevem Voldemort. The name conjures up images of the Dark Lord wearing jeans, which would definitely have made the character a lot less intimidating.
6 Tom Dredolo Venster (Norwegian Voldemort)
Voldemort den store
The Norwegian translation of Tom Marvolo Riddle is perhaps the most unusual, as instead of opting for some variation of “I am Lord Voldemort,” the translator decided to have the text for the big reveal read “Voldemort the Great.” This is likely because the Norwegian for “My name is” is “Jeg heter,” meaning that there would have been a lot of missing letters for them to find had they instead opted to translate “I am Lord Voldemort” word for word.
5 Marten Asmodom Vilijn (Dutch Voldemort)
Mijn naam is Voldemort
The Dutch language version of Chamber of Secrets is one of only a handful that completely changes Voldemort’s first name. Rather than Tom, he-who-must-not-be-named is called Marten, which at first seems a little random given that almost all of the letters needed to spell “Tom Riddle” remain in the translated name. Things start to make a bit more sense though once one realizes that “Vilijn” is the Dutch word for “Riddle.” Having to find a way to cram in all of the additional letters needed to spell “Mijn naam is” probably didn’t help either.
4 Tom Elvis Jesudor (French Voldemort)
Je suis Voldemort
The person responsible for translating Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets into French did at least keep Tom Riddle’s first name intact, but his other two names are completely different. That they were somehow able to get Elvis in there is pretty cool, although it’s worth noting that Voldemort was born in 1926, which was almost a full decade before the King. The name would therefore have had no real significance back then, although given his unusual pronunciation of the Killing Curse, it’s hard not to imagine Voldy saying Avada Kedavruh-huh-huh after learning of his French name.
3 Tod Morvosc Rodlel (Catalan Voldemort)
Soc Lord Voldemort
Anyone who purchases a copy of Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets in Andorra or Barcelona may be in for a bit of a surprise when they reach the big “I am Lord Voldemort” reveal. This is because rather than Tom Riddle, the Dark Lord is called Tod Rodlel, which sounds a bit like somebody trying to pronounce “Tom Riddle” with a severely swollen tongue. The change was presumably made to accommodate the word “Soc,” which is Catalan for “I am.”
2 Trevor Delgome (Icelandic Voldemort)
Eg er Voldemort
Icelandic Voldemort is one of the most unique versions of the character, as he does not have a middle name. This is likely because the translator opted to drop the word “Lord” from the final reveal, meaning that they only needed enough letters to spell “Eg er,” which means “I am” in Icelandic. That he shares the same first name as Neville’s pet toad definitely makes the Dark Lord a lot less daunting and is a big part of why Trevor Delgome is one of the most unusual Tom Riddle translations out there.
1 Romeo Gade Detlev Jr. (Danish Voldemort)
Jeg er Voldemort
The Danish translation of Tom Riddle is by far the coolest, with the Dark Lord becoming Romeo Gade Detlev Jr. It’s a bit of a mouthful, although it’s the only version of the name that reflects the fact that Voldemort was named after his filthy Muggle father, Tom Riddle Sr. The name isn’t quite perfect, though, as there are three letters that simply disappear when the big reveal takes place (an A, a D, and an E). Still, being able to imagine Dumbledore saying “It was foolish of you to come here tonight, Romeo” more than makes up for this.
