The Six Types of Middle-Earth Names

lotrfansaredorcs:

1. Characters whose Names are Secretly Insults: 

Samwise: means “Half-wise” or “Half-wit.” He is Stupid Gamgee

Faramir: Boromir’s name means “steadfast jewel”, but Faramir’s name just means “sufficient jewel.”

Sufficient.

Denethor took one look at baby Faramir and thought “eh I guess he exists or whatever” which is very in character

 2. Characters who Have Way Too Many Names

Examples include Aragorn son of Arathorn son of Arador heir of Isildur Elendil’s son, descendant of Numenor,  Thorongill,  Eagle of the Star,  Dúnadan, Strider,  Wingfoot, Longshanks, Elessar, Edhelharn, Elfstone, Estel, Hope, The Chieftain of the Dúnedain, King of the West, High King of Gondor and Arnor, and Envinyatar the Renewer of the House of Telcontar

Wait I’m sorry did I say “examples” plural

Cuz that was all one guy

3. Characters whose parents must’ve been prophets

-Frodo means “wise by experience.” His story is about becoming wise by experience
-A lady named Elwing turns into a bird (geddit)

4. Characters whose families were so lazy that they copy-pasted the same first half of a name onto multiple people

Théoden/Théodred 

Aragorn/Arathorn/Arador 
Éomer/

Éomund/Éowyn/Éorl
Elladan/Elrohir/Elrond/Elros/Elwing/Elenwë/Elendil/Eldarion (the laziest family) 

5.Characters whose Names are Expertly Designed so that Newbies can’t Remember Who is Who and Feel Sad

All the people mentioned in number 4
Celeborn, Celegorm, Celebrimbor, Celebrian
All the rhyming dwarf names in the Hobbit
Sauron and Saruman
Arwen and Éowyn

6. Name so nice, you say it twice

Legoas Greenleaf: Legolas’s first name means “Greenleaf” in elvish. Legolas is Greenleaf Greenleaf (thranduil really likes green leaves ok)

King Théoden’s name means King in Rohirric. Tolkien decided to name his name his king “King.” All hail King King

 this is what the fanbase means when we say tolkien was a creative genius with language

one correction: Faramir’s name does not mean sufficient jewel, unless I’m really missing something. His name comes from the word faran, meaning hunter, not farn, meaning sufficient – look at that extra “a”. The name more closely translates to hunter’s jewel or hunting jewel. that is all. thank.