What's in a name: Harry Potter

I was searching the net last night about what my name means and its history, it came into my thoughts about what does the name "Harry" and "James" mean and where did they originated. So, I scan my favorite links (which I saved a couple of months ago) and I've looked to www.thinkbabynames.com

Now, viewing the pages, I've arrived on the Top 100 Baby Names for Boys in England and Wales (2005) and I found out these information:

Harry ranked 9th on the list (that's in Top 100 famous baby names for boys in England and Wales, year 2005) with +2 points higher than 2004 (meaning it gained two points more popular than year 2004).

On the other hand, James, Harry Potter's second name, which he got from his father, James Potter ranked 4th on the list (ranked the same on 2004).

I was concluding, do these names become more famous on the recent years because of the novels JK Rowling wrote? Or are those name just famous in Europe, particularly in England and Wales?

Let us compare the popularity of the names "Harry" and "James" on 7 major places in the world (shown here) by the year 2005.

The actor who played Harry Potter, Daniel Jacob Radcliffe has also common and popular names in England and Wales.

Daniel, ranked 6th with -1 popularity point compared to 2004, and Jacob, ranked 21st with +2 popularity points.

Why wouldn't you try your names? It's fun. You might have the most popular names in the world! :)