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If a Muggle was born of a wizard/witch and a Muggle, is that person a Squib, or is that reserved to people born from pure-blood families?

(Related: Is a Squib a Muggle?)

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3 Answers 3

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Squibs aren’t only pure-blood - they can have a Muggle parent.

If a wizard and Muggle have a nonmagical child, it’s a Squib. In the Pottermore writing on Dolores Umbridge, it’s mentioned that her parents (a wizard father and Muggle mother) have two children together - Dolores, a witch, and her brother, who was a Squib.

Dolores Jane Umbridge was the eldest child and only daughter of Orford Umbridge, a wizard, and Ellen Cracknell, a Muggle, who also had a Squib son.
- Dolores Umbridge (Pottermore)

This shows that Squibs can be born to a wizard/Muggle couple - in that case the nonmagical child would still be considered a Squib, not a Muggle, despite having one Muggle parent. It also shows by extension that Squibs don’t have to be pure-blood, as any child with a Muggle parent isn’t.

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No I don't think so. Kendra Dumbledore was definitely a Muggle-born witch:

'Dumbledore's mother was a terrifying woman, simply terrifying. Muggle-born, though I heard she pretended otherwise -'

'She never pretended anything of the sort! Kendra was a fine woman,' whispered Doge miserably, but Auntie Muriel ignored him.

And yet nobody has any problem speculating that Arianna was a Squib:

'- proud and very domineering, the sort of witch who would have been mortified to produce a Squib -'

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - p.129 - Bloomsbury - Chapter 8, The Wedding

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  • What does Kendra being muggle-born have to do with Ariana?
    – Alex
    Aug 16, 2018 at 4:10
  • @Alex ? Muriel thought Ariana was a Squib? And her mother was Muggle born so she's not Pure blood she's half blood
    – Au101
    Aug 16, 2018 at 11:35
  • But the question wasn't about (all) half-bloods; it was specifically about people with a muggle parent.
    – Alex
    Aug 16, 2018 at 11:41
  • @Alex The question body also says "or is that reserved to people born from pure-blood families?" and the titular question is "Do Squibs have to be pure-blood?" I'm assuming 2+ years ago I didn't take "If a Muggle was born of a wizard/witch and a Muggle" to be deliberately and carefully restricting the type of non-pure-blooded person the question was about, I probably understood it as a simple attempt to quickly restate the titular question so as to provide an actual question body. I think this info remains interesting and relevant, but Bella's answer is really good, if not book canon
    – Au101
    Aug 16, 2018 at 12:09
  • In any case, since in the Harry Potter universe, people only distinguish pure blood, half blood and Muggle-born, if a Squib can be one type of half blood, surely it can be another type of half blood
    – Au101
    Aug 16, 2018 at 12:17
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A Muggle wouldn't be born of a wizard/witch and Muggle, instead a Squib would be born. That's because since the child contains traits of a Muggle and a magical person, he/she wouldn't be purely non-magical, and he/she would have some magical characteristics inherited from the magical parent. Hence the child would become a Half-Blood Squib...

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    Do you have any references to back this up?
    – Cubic
    Feb 7, 2016 at 15:24

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