Dunbar family

"*United we stand.*"
—The motto of the Dunbars since the twelfth century.

**Dunbar** is the surname of a half-blood wizarding family and is one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. The family was founded by Norman Dunbar in the twelth century. The Dunbars used to be pure-blood but the main branch became half-blood when Liam Dunbar married half-blood witch Alex Russo. His older brother Patrick Dunbar married into the Raeken family and had three pure-blood children with Theo Raeken, one of which continued the pure-blood line.

The colors on the house crest are green and yellow, a nod to the Hufflepuff and Slytherin Houses of Hogwarts which are the two main Houses of the Dunbars. Their official mascot is a bear.

Up until the twenty-first century it used to be common for the members of the family (both born and married) to be either a Hufflepuff or Slytherin but that's no longer the case. Over the years their hard stance on keeping the tradition alive softened, opening the way for Gryffindors and Ravenclaws to become Dunbars. The first Ravenclaw and Gryffindor to be married into the family are Lynn Hudson and Fabian Lahey respectively.

The family became famous within the wizarding world due to the fact that two of its members, Patrick and Liam Dunbar, were Elementals: Patrick had the element of earth while Liam had the element of water under his control. They fought alongside Finn and Brody Hudson, the other two Elementals (air and fire respectively), in the First Wizarding War and ended this conflict with a decisive victory at the Battle of Hogwarts. Their defeat of Lord Voldemort earned them all the Order of Merlin, First Class award.

The Dunbars are related to the Goode, Milton, Hitchins, Winters, Howell, Russo, Hudson, Fabray, Lahey, Daniels, Raeken, Malfoy and Whittemore families.

## History

### Early history

The Dunbar family consists of an ancient line of pure-blood (and now half-blood) wizards, most of whom attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and were traditionally sorted into Hufflepuff and Slytherin House. The family began with Norman Burton who founded the family and its estate Dunbar Manor after he couldn't stand his older brother and was disowned and burned off the family tapestry.

The Dunbar family would soon gain the reputation of not agreeing with pure-blood supremacy: to them every witch or wizard is equal, regardless of their blood status. The Dunbars expanded their already large estate with the lands of their neighbors. They opposed the Statue of Secrecy at first but soon embraced it. However, unlike many families, they didn't cut off ties with Muggle families.

Members of the family began to seek influence over the newly formed British Ministry of Magic. All of the Dunbar family members have worked there for a period in their life. Though no Dunbar is known to have ever aspired for the position of Minister for Magic, many members of the family preferred to give advice to them instead.

### Recent history

Joshua Dunbar, the son of Martin Dunbar and Fiona Goode, was one of the few pure-blood wizards left by the late twentieth century. He married his childhood lover Alice Milton with whom he had two sons: Patrick and Liam Dunbar. Soon after the birth of their second son, his wife was killed in a potion accident at the Dunbar Manor, leaving the devastated Slytherin alone with their two children.

After the accident, Joshua cut himself off of the wizarding world and his family, not even allowing his parents to visit their grandchildren until his father broke down the protection barriers around the house and gave him a stern speech about him owing his late wife to take good care of their children and himself and that she would have wanted him to continue with his life and move on. Since Joshua has always had a good relationship with his father, he trusted him on his words and slowly started to crawl out of his shell again.

He went to visit the Hudson family to discover what his friends had been doing in his absence, only to find out that his best friend Christopher Hudson had joined the British Muggle Army, was deployed to a warzone and got killed, leaving his wife Carole Howell in a similar situation as him: both their spouses had died while both couples had two sons each. Both of them mourning the loss of their partners, they sought comfort with each other.

It wasn't until a few months later that Joshua and Carole, who had developed feelings for each other, became a couple and decided to move to a new house. They created the Hudbar family and moved into an estate with their sons so the duo could start a new life together and try to get rid of the horrible memories that still seemed to haunt them. Joshua took on the father role and became the stepfather Carole her two sons Finn and Brody Hudson, while Carole took on the mother role to Joshua his two sons Patrick and Liam Dunbar. Finn and Brody consider Joshua their father while Patrick and Liam consider Carole their mother, but Carole and Joshua regularly told their children about their biological parent so they knew where they came from. It helped a lot that the four of them used to be friends.

While their father and grandfather were sorted into Slytherin, both Patrick and Liam were sorted into Hufflepuff when they arrived at Hogwarts in their first year. Having been raised well by his father and stepmother, the two brothers did their best at school and tried to always be kind and polite to people (unless they pissed them off). Patrick didn't feel scared at all when he found out that he fancied men instead of women and brought his boyfriend Theo Raeken over during the holidays to formally introduce him to his parents. Due to Patrick informing Joshua about his preference to marry into the family of his partner instead of wanting to continue the Dunbar line, they decided that Liam should be the heir instead.

Joshua and Carole were members of the Order of the Elementals. With the First Wizarding War on the horizon, they knew that it wouldn't be long until the existence of the Elementals would be revealed, and once it did then they would do anything to help them defeat Lord Voldemort. They tried to keep their children out of this because they should be having fun and grow up in peace instead of worrying about a war and to fight, but that changed when it was revealed that the four Elementals were their children: Finn, Brody, Patrick and Liam. Thus, they were informed about what they were and what powers they possessed, and above all, which role they had to play in the upcoming war.

The news that the Dunbar and Hudson children were the Elementals, something that the wizarding world thought was a myth, spread like wildfire.It made both families incredibly famous and the Elementals, including their related family members (Muggle and magical alike) couldn't walk on the streets normally without being harassed. However, due to Voldemort finding out about the Elementals, their identity and the threat they posed to him, they and their family all became targets for Death Eater attacks, forcing Minister for Magic Garrett Douglas to send disguised Aurors to the Hudbar Manor and Hogwarts to keep an eye on them and protect them if needed. Several staff members of the school were members of the Order too so they could look out for them as well as give information to the other members whom were in various other locations.

## Family members

### Blood relatives

Norman Dunbar †
(Main branch)Martin Dunbar
(Main branch)Joshua Dunbar
(Main branch)Patrick Raeken
(né Dunbar)
(Side branch)Liam Dunbar
(Main branch)Jordan Raeken
(Side branch)Angela Dunbar
(Side branch)Alice Raeken
(Side branch)Phoebe Dunbar
(Side branch)Wesley Dunbar
(Main branch)Brenton Whittemore
(né Raeken)
(Side branch)

### Relatives by marriage

Fiona Dunbar
(née Goode)
(Main branch)Alice Dunbar †
(née Milton)
(Main branch)Carole Dunbar
(née Howell)
(Main branch)Theo Raeken
(Side branch)Alex Dunbar
(née Russo)
(Main branch)Lynn Raeken
(née Hudson)
(Side branch)Fabian Lahey
(Side branch)Theodore Whittemore
(Side branch)

(née Goode)
 Alice Dunbar †
(née Milton)
 Carole Dunbar
(née Howell)
 Alex Dunbar
(née Russo)
 Lynn Raeken
(née Hudson)
 Theodore Whittemore | Pure-blood Slytherin. Son of Brody and Theo. Husband of Brenton Raeken.

### Dunbar relatives

Tristan MiltonElizabeth Milton †
(née Winters)Rami MiltonEmilia Davenport
(née Milton)Samantha Milton
(néé Giddings)Adam DavenportThomas RaekenGal Raeken
(née Gadot)Jerry RussoTheresa Russo
(née Larkin)Justin RussoMax Russo

 Elizabeth Milton †
(née Winters)
 Emilia Davenport
(née Milton)
 Samantha Milton
(née Giddings)
 Theresa Russo
(née Larkin)
 Max Russo | Half-blood Hufflepuff wizard and third child of Jerry and Theresa Russo. Youngest brother of Justin and Alex Russo.

## Etymology

* **Dunbar**: Dunbar is a Scottish habitational name from Dunbar, located on the North Sea coast near Edinburgh. It is a combination of the Gaelic words dùn, meaning "fort," and barr, meaning "top" or "summit." It can also mean "castle headland" due to the fact that the town of Dunbar is at the mouth of the Frith of Forth in Scotland, so named for the fact that it is situated on a rock that overlooks the sea. It is also the name of a Scottish clan hailing from the Lowlands of Scotland.
* **Norman**: From an old Germanic byname meaning "northman", referring to a Viking. The Normans were Vikings who settled on the coast of France, in the region that became known as Normandy. In England the name Norman or Normant was used before the Norman conquest, first as a nickname for Scandinavian settlers and later as a given name. After the Conquest it became more common, but died out around the 14th century. It was revived in the 19th century, perhaps in part due to a character by this name in C. M. Yonge's novel 'The Daisy Chain' (1856).
* **Joshua**: From the Hebrew name יְהוֹשֻׁעַ (Yehoshu'a) meaning "YAHWEH is salvation". As told in the Old Testament, Joshua was a companion of Moses. He went up Mount Sinai with Moses when he received the Ten Commandments from God, and later he was one of the twelve spies sent into Canaan. After Moses died Joshua succeeded him as leader of the Israelites and he led the conquest of Canaan. His original name was Hoshea. The name Jesus comes from a Greek translation of the Aramaic short form יֵשׁוּעַ (Yeshu'a), which was the real name of Jesus. As an English name, Joshua has been in use since the Protestant Reformation.
* **Patrick**: From the Latin name Patricius, which meant "nobleman". This name was adopted in the 5th-century by Saint Patrick, whose birth name was Sucat. He was a Romanized Briton who was captured and enslaved in his youth by Irish raiders. After six years of servitude he escaped home, but he eventually became a bishop and went back to Ireland as a missionary. He is traditionally credited with Christianizing the island, and is regarded as Ireland's patron saint. In England and elsewhere in Europe during the Middle Ages this name was used in honour of the saint. However, it was not generally given in Ireland before the 17th century because it was considered too sacred for everyday use. It has since become very common there.
* **Liam**: Liam is a short form of the Irish name William, a derivation of the Frankish name Willahelm. The name breaks down into two Old German elements-- vila ("will," "desire," "resolution") and helma ("helmet of will," "guardian"). In Arabic, the pronunciation equivalent to Liam means "harmonious in opinion or feeling," while in Persian, the name is of a plant in southern Iran whose name means "protector and supporter," a fitting title, considering that as a member of the McCall Pack, Liam Dunbar is both a protector and a supporter. In Hebrew, Liam can be translated into "my nation" or "my people." Because of the Norman conquests, Saxon names were replaced by an influx of French names that were quickly adopted by the English, Welsh, and Irish in the region. Related names are William, Wilhelm, Will, Bill, Gwilym, and Guillermo.
* **Jordan:** From the name of the river which flows between the countries of Jordan and Israel. The river's name in Hebrew is *יַרְדֵן (Yarden)*, and it is derived from *יָרַד (yarad)* meaning "descend" or "flow down". In the New Testament John the Baptist baptizes Jesus Christ in its waters, and it was adopted as a personal name in Europe after crusaders brought water back from the river to baptize their children. There may have been some influence from the Germanic name JORDANES, notably borne by a 6th-century Gothic historian.
* **Angela:** Feminine form of *Angelus*. As an English name, it came into use in the 18th century.
* **Alice:** From the Old French name *Aalis*, a short form of *Adelais*, itself a short form of the Germanic name *Adalheidis*. This name became popular in France and England in the 12th century. It was borne by the heroine of Lewis Carroll's 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' (1865) and 'Through the Looking Glass' (1871).
* **Phoebe:** Latinized form of the Greek name *Φοιβη (Phoibe)*, which meant "bright, pure" from Greek *φοιβος (phoibos)*. In Greek mythology Phoibe was a Titan associated with the moon. This was also an epithet of her granddaughter, the moon goddess Artemis. The name appears in Paul's epistle to the Romans in the New Testament, where it belongs to a female minister in the church at Cenchreae. In England, it began to be used as a given name after the Protestant Reformation. A moon of Saturn bears this name (in honour of the Titan).
* **Lucas:** English form of the Greek name *Λουκας (Loukas)* which meant "from Lucania", Lucania being a region in southern Italy (of uncertain meaning). Luke was a doctor who travelled in the company of the apostle Paul. According to tradition, he was the author of the third gospel and Acts in the New Testament. He was probably of Greek ethnicity. He is considered a saint by many Christian denominations.
* **Edwin:** Means "rich friend" from the Old English elements *ead* "wealth, fortune" and *wine* "friend". This was the name of a 7th-century Northumbrian king, regarded as a saint. After the Norman conquest the name was not popular, but it was eventually revived in the 19th century. A notable bearer was the astronaut Edwin Aldrin (1930-), also known as Buzz, the second man to walk on the moon.
* **Thomas:** Greek form of the Aramaic name *תָּאוֹמָא (Ta'oma')* which meant "twin". In the New Testament this is the name of an apostle. When he heard that Jesus had risen from the dead he initially doubted the story, until Jesus appeared before him and he examined his wounds himself. According to tradition he was martyred in India. Due to his renown, the name came into general use in the Christian world.
* **Wesley:** From a surname which was derived from a place name meaning "west meadow" in Old English. It has been sometimes given in honour of John Wesley (1703-1791), the founder of Methodism.
* **Brenton:** From a surname which was derived from an English place name which meant "Bryni's town". *Bryni* was Old English name meaning "fire".