"voldemort" means "flight of death" in french. j.k. rowling apologized for this in 2009, saying that she did not mean that french people were bad: "i can assure you that no anti-french feeling was at the origin of this choice. as a francophile, i have always been proud of my french blood. but i needed a name that evokes both power and exoticism." she also said that voldemort himself was "100 percent english".