<P> Rowling has described the character of Luna Lovegood as the "anti-Hermione" as they are so different . Hermione's foil at Hogwarts is Pansy Parkinson, a bully based on real - life girls who teased the author during her school days . </P> <P> Rowling stated that the character of Hermione carries several autobiographical influences: "I did not set out to make Hermione like me but she is...she is an exaggeration of how I was when I was younger ." She recalled being called a "little know - it - all" in her youth . Moreover, she states that not unlike herself, "there is a lot of insecurity and a great fear of failure" beneath Hermione's swottiness . Finally, according to Rowling, next to Albus Dumbledore, Hermione is the perfect expository character; because of her encyclopaedic knowledge, she can always be used as a plot dump to explain the Harry Potter universe . Rowling also states that her feminist conscience is rescued by Hermione, "who's the brightest character" and is a "very strong female character". </P> <P> Hermione's first name is taken from a character in William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, though Rowling has said that the two characters have little in common otherwise . Rowling said that she wanted her name to be unusual since if fewer girls shared her name, fewer girls would get teased for it and it seemed that "a pair of professional dentists, who liked to prove how clever they are...gave (her) an unusual name that no - one could pronounce ." Her original last name was "Puckle", but Rowling felt the name "did not suit her at all", and so the less frivolous Granger made it into the books . </P> <P> Hermione first appears in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone when she meets Harry and Ron on the Hogwarts Express . Here Hermione condemns Ron for his inability to perform a spell to turn his rat yellow . She proves just how much she knows by declaring that she memorized all the textbooks by heart and performing a spell on Harry . She constantly annoys her peers with her knowledge, so Harry and Ron initially consider her arrogant; especially after she criticises Ron's incantation of the Levitation Charm . They heartily dislike her until they rescue her from a troll, for which she is so thankful that she lies to protect them from punishment, thus winning their friendship . Hermione's knack for logic later enables the trio to solve a puzzle that is essential to retrieving the Philosopher's Stone, and she defeats the constrictive Devil's Snare plant by summoning a jet of "bluebell flame". </P>

What was the name of the girl in harry potter