Voldemort's Name is Hilariously Different in Translation
When twelve-year-old Harry Potter makes his way into the Chamber of Secrets, he finds himself squaring off with Tom Marvolo Riddle.
Tom writes his name in the air, and with a flick of his wand switches the letters around to read "I Am Lord Voldemort". Of course, writing an anagram into a book causes some problems when it comes to translation. "Tom Marvolo Riddle" doesn't change around to fit "Je Suis Voldemort" (French) or "Soy Voldemort" (Spanish).
The solution? When the novels were translated, He Who Must Not Be Named actually got a lot of different names. Some of them sound pretty similar, but some are hilariously different.
To French readers, the Dark Lord was born Tom Elvis Jedusor, who transliterated the letters of his name to "Je suis Voldemort". Simple, straightforward, and leaves the reader all shaken up.
To Italians, he is Tom Orvoloson Riddle, which shuffles to become "Sono Lord Voldemort".
If you're Danish, you've been reading about the evil… wait for it... "Romeo G. Detlev Jr"! The letters in Romeo's name eventually spell out "Jeg er Voldemort", although it also sounds like the name of a shortstop from the Bronx. Or possibly a lovestruck teenage boy…
Tom Lomen Valedro is the Finnish version of the Dark Lord's name, and he revamps it into "Ma olen Voldemort".
If you come from the land of the ice and snow (ie Iceland), you've heard of the wickedest wizard of all… the dreaded Trevor Delgome! In Icelandic, "Trevor Delgome" is an anagram for "Eg er Voldemort" but having the same name as Neville's pet toad makes it a little hard to take the Dark Lord seriously.
Perhaps the most appropriate sounding name (at least to English ears) is the Norwegian version. If you read Harry Potter as a wee child in Norway, you know He Who Must Not Be Named by the name Tom Dredolo Venster, who changes the letters to read "Voldemort den store".
There are a few languages that do away with the name Voldemort altogether. This includes Slovenian, where the Dark Lord was born Mark Neelstin. Mark grows up to be known as "Mrlakenstein", and is never called Voldemort. In Romanian, the most feared wizard of all time was born Tomas Dorlent Cruplud, a name that becomes "Cap-de-Mort", meaning "Cap of Death" or "Dead Man's Skull". The letters in Tomas Dorlent Cruplud change to create the chilling phrase "Eu sunt Lordul Cap-de-Mort''.