How could Barty Crouch not know Percy Weasley's name?

Question

Given that Barty Crouch Sr. was apparently a close colleague of Arthur Weasley, with whom he was on a first-name basis, how could Crouch have mistakenly believed Percy Weasley's last name was Weatherby?

In the Goblet of Fire, Crouch mis-names Percy in the middle of a conversation with Arthur in front of several members of the Weasley family:

“Oh,” said Mr. Crouch, looking over at Percy in mild surprise. “Yes —
  thank you, Weatherby.”
  
  Fred and George choked into their own cups. Percy, very pink around
  the ears, busied himself with the kettle.
  
  “Oh and I’ve been wanting a word with you too, Arthur,” said Mr.
  Crouch, his sharp eyes falling upon Mr. Weasley.

And moments later, during the same conversation, Crouch says:

“Thank you for the tea, Weatherby.”

I gather this is intended as a humorous moment by the author (and it is), but it's hard to accept as remotely realistic.

How could Crouch possibly mistake the son of a close colleague with such distinctive features (red hair and freckles), especially in such an obvious context?

David Banner · Accepted Answer

I think Sirius has an answer for this in chapter 27:

Sirius shook his head and said, "Hermione has got the measure of Crouch
  better than you have, Ron. If you want to know what a mans like, take
  a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals."

Bartemius doesn't care enough about his assistant to even know his name.

alexwlchan · Answer

Arthur has a big family – seven sons and a daughter – and Barty Crouch doesn’t strike me as a family man (especially after what happened to his own son). I don’t think he was ever introduced to Arthur’s children, and perhaps doesn’t realise that Percy and Arthur are related. Even if he had been introduced to the clan, it’s hard to blame him for forgetting.

Throughout the book, Crouch refers to Percy as Weatherby. I think he really is just too distracted to notice he’s getting it wrong, and Percy is too awe-struck to correct him.

I always assumed that Weatherby was the name of one of Crouch’s former assistants, and that he just hadn’t noticed the change of staff. I didn’t spot the similarity to “Weasley”. I’m sure that was based on more than a hunch, but I can’t find a source right now.

Himarm · Answer

We have a few things going on in my opinion.

First Barty Crouch is an extremely busy and important person in the Ministry. That kind of stress organizing something like the Tri-Wizard Tournament, as well as the Quiditch World Cup, is extreme. Remembering 100s if not 1000s of people's names from across Europe, his department, other departments in the Ministry, is taxing. Percy is simply an aid, who has been with the Ministry for a matter of weeks at this point, approximately 2 months.

Second we have Percy himself, who would never correct a teacher, or respected figure.

Finally while the first few months it's understandable to forget your employee's name, starting right after the world cup this happens:

“It was very quick. My father was placed under the Imperius Curse by my master. Now my father was the one imprisoned, controlled.

Leaving him unable to ever fully learn his assistant's name, after stress from the World Cup was over.

james turner · Answer

I noticed he called Percy Weatherby and figured it portrayed him as the kind of person who would not bother to remember his devoted assistant's name, and never bother to wonder if he is related to Arthur.

Moments later, that seemed perfectly consistent with calling Arthur by his first name, not out of true intimacy, but rather the kind of fake familiarity people use to insinuate themselves into a group in which they do not truly belong.

JamesD · Answer

Personally I thought at the time that it was because Percy wanted to move forward with his career without having the name Weasley attached to him.
Hence Weatherby is what he called himself to distance himself from the Wealsey name.
To me that explained why Percy is absent and takes a different view than that of his Family for the middle novels.
In Deathly Hallows, Percy is repenting about his behaviour:

“I was a fool!" Percy roared, so loudly that Lupin nearly dropped his
photograph. "I was an idiot, I was a pompous prat, I was a - a -"
"Ministry-loving, family-disowning, power-hungry moron," said Fred.
Percy swallowed. "Yes, I was!" "Well, you can't say fairer than that,"
said Fred, holding out his hand to Percy.”

He agrees that he was family disowning, thereby wanting to distance himself from the other Weasley's, given his fathers treatment by the ministry.

How could Barty Crouch not know Percy Weasley's name?

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