Four founders established Hogwarts in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series.
The founders are Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. Each founder is associated with one of Hogwarts’ four houses, which bear the founders’ surnames.
The founders created the school roughly a thousand years before Harry Potter’s time. Their differing views, especially Salazar Slytherin’s opposition to admitting Muggle-born students, became part of the school’s history and later central conflicts.
The four-house structure is sometimes mistaken for the number of founders, but each house corresponds to one founder. The founders’ names also explain why Hogwarts students are sorted into Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin.