Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

As siblings noted, there are some sprinkled through, particularly as the ages advance.

The out of universe answer is probably that Tolkien probably very much enjoyed making up these names, as an exercise in playing with and building his languages and world. He likely would have only fallen back to numbers either when truly and deeply stumped (I don't think this really would have happened often), or to signal something.

I also believe you can also see some of the Old English influence on Tolkien here. If you look at the Anglo-Saxon Kings, you see relatively little re-use of names. Instead (going off the top) you get Egbert, Ethelwulf, Ethelbald, Ethelbert.



I think it's pretty convenient that a name is unique. At least in living memory anyway.


It's also convenient when they're one-to-one; russian names, nicknames, and patronymics in stories are infamous for failure to be injective.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: