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Voldemort can cast a curse that alerts his Death Eaters whenever his name is spoken. The order of Phoenix knows that later on. For example in volume 7, chapter 11 after Harry, Ron and Hermione escape from the wedding:

They explained what had happened; when they had finished, Lupin looked aghast. “But how did they find you so quickly? It’s impossible to track anyone who Apparates, unless you grab hold of them as they disappear!”

So I am curious why he didn't cast it on Harry Potter's name so he could track down Harry Potter while the Order hasn't recognized it.

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    Too many false positives? Telling Voldemort's name goes against a known fear, You-Know-Who etc. Harry never had such a thing with his name, regular folks will continue to call him by his name even if they're not resistance
    – Jenayah
    Commented Jan 22, 2020 at 7:37
  • I don't think that way since they make him look like a terrorist. Normal ppl won't usually call terrorist's name out of nowhere. Commented Jan 22, 2020 at 7:39
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    @someoneuseless They are still in the process of painting that image, which involves newspaper articles etc., which normal people will sometimes discuss.
    – Annatar
    Commented Jan 22, 2020 at 8:52
  • On the other hand, the members of the Order of the Phoenix will not usually use "Harry Potter", but just "Harry".
    – Annatar
    Commented Jan 22, 2020 at 9:07
  • Indeed, being able to curse arbitrary speech will be much more useful than just cursing the name Voldemort. He could, e.g., curse Horcrux.
    – HappyFace
    Commented Sep 27, 2020 at 14:03

1 Answer 1

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Because only Order-of-the-Phoenix types used Voldemort's name:

“Exactly! You’ve got to give them credit, it makes sense. It was only people who were serious about standing up to him, like Dumbledore, who ever dared use it. Now they’ve put a Taboo on it, anyone who says it is trackable — quick-and-easy way to find Order members!

Unlike the name "Harry Potter" which was used by many other people. (Harry and Potter are both incredibly common names in Britain). Furthermore, even assuming there was only one Harry Potter, there were still many innocent wizards who would use it, unlike "Voldemort", which only brave people used.

Even many order members were scared to use it:

‘My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this “You-Know-Who” nonsense – for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort.’

Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two sherbet lemons, seemed not to notice.

‘It all gets so confusing if we keep saying “YouKnow-Who”.’ I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort’s name.’

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