Rowling said that she wanted her name to be unusual since if fewer girls had the name, fewer girls would get teased for it and it seemed the sort of name that "a pair of professional dentists, who liked to prove how clever they were" would give their daughter. 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 to nothing in common. Rowling also states that her feminist conscience is rescued by Hermione, "who's the brightest witch of her age" and a "very strong female character." Finally, according to Rowling, next to Albus Dumbledore, Hermione is the perfect expository character because of her encyclopedic knowledge, she can always be used as a plot dump to explain the Harry Potter universe. And she says that not unlike herself, "there is a lot of insecurity and a great fear of failure" beneath Hermione's swottiness. She is an exaggeration of how I was when I was younger." She recalled being called a "little know-it-all" in her youth. Rowling said the character of Hermione has several autobiographic influences: "I did not set out to make Hermione like me but she is a bit like me. Rowling has called the character of Luna Lovegood the "anti-Hermione" as they are so very different. But Rowling revealed in a 2004 interview that Hermione was intended to have a sister, but the planned sibling did not appear since she felt it "might be too late now" to introduce the character. They are well aware of the wizard world and have visited Diagon Alley with her. Rowling adds that Hermione's parents, two Muggle dentists, are a bit bemused by their odd daughter but "quite proud of her all the same". She is an overachiever who excels academically and is described by Rowling as a "very logical, upright and good" character. Rowling states that she was born on 19 September 1979 and she was nearly twelve when she first attended Hogwarts. Hermione is a Muggle-born Gryffindor, who becomes best friends with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. The version of Hermione portrayed by Emma Watson in all eight Harry Potter films from Philosopher's Stone in 2001 to Deathly Hallows – Part 2 in 2011 was voted the best female character of all time in a poll conducted amongst Hollywood professionals by The Hollywood Reporter in 2016. The character has had immense popularity. Rowling has stated that Hermione resembles herself as a young girl, with her insecurity and fear of failure. After Harry and Ron save her from a mountain troll in the girls' restroom, she becomes best friends with them and often uses her quick wit, deft recall, and encyclopaedic knowledge to lend aid in dire situations. She first appears in the novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997), on the Hogwarts express as a first year student on her way to Hogwarts. Hermione Jean Granger ( / h ɜːr ˈ m aɪ ə n i ˈ ɡ r eɪ n dʒ ər/ hur- MY-ə-nee GRAYN-jər) is a fictional character in J.