An old family of the Shire found mostly in the Hobbiton region of the Westfarthing.They had always been an important family in the Shire and gave rise to the two most important Hobbits of the Third Age, Bilbo the Ring-finder and Frodo the Ring-bearer.
Banks :
A common Hobbit family name,found not only in the Shire but also in Bree.
Boffin :
A prominent family of the Shire,associated with the region of the Yale in the Eastfarthing.Important members include Berylla Boffin,who was an ancestor of both Bilbo and Frodo Baggins and Folco Boffin, who helped Frodo in his move from Bag End.
Bolger :
A Hobbit family of Fallohidish origin,associated with the village of Budgeford,on the Water in the East farthing of the Shire.In common with the Brandybucks and the Tooks,the Bolgers had a penchant for heroic names and so as well as Fredegar (the most important Bolger in Tolkien's work),we find such noble names as Fastolph,Gundabald and Odovacar.
Bracegirdle :
An important and populous family of Shire-hobbits,associated with the town or village of Hardbottle.The most famous of them was Lobelia Bracegirdle,who married Otho Sackville-Baggins.
Brandybuck :
An old family of the Shire found mostly in Buckland and descended from the Oldbucks and ultimately from Bucca of the Marish,the first Thain of the Shire.The family was founded by Gorhendad Oldbuck who,claiming the Eastmarch of the Shire (Buckland),changed his family name to Brandybuck.Probably the most famous member of the family was Meriadoc Brandybuck,who was part of the Company of the Ring.
Brockhouse :
A populous family of the Bree-hobbits.
Chubb :
A family of Shire-hobbits,of whom several were present at Bilbo Baggins' Birthday Party.Their main connection with the Baggins family was through Bilbo's grandfather,the Old Took,whose wife Adamanta Chubb was mother to no fewer than twelve children,including Bilbo's mother Belladonna.
Chubb-Baggins :
A family created by the wedding of Bilbo's uncle Bingo Baggins to Chica Chubb.It seems to have lasted just three generations;what evidence we have suggests that the last Chubb-Baggins was Bingo's grand-daughter Poppy,who married into the Bolger family.
Cotton :
Cottar,the founder of the Cotton clan,was born some two hundred years before the War of the Ring.It was his grandson,Holman,who was the first to take the surname Cotton.'Long Horn',as Holman was known,is also the first of the Cottons to be explicitly connected with the village of Bywater,which remained the seat of the family from that time on.Indeed,the name 'Cotton' means 'cottage town' and may actually be a reference to Bywater village.Holman's son Tolman farmed the lands to the south of Bywater and it was he who made the family one of the most important in the Shire.He played a significant part in the decisive Battle of Bywater,the most important step in the recovery of the Shire from Sharkey's Men and his daughter Rose married Sam Gamgee in the following spring.
Fairbairn :
The family of the descendants of Samwise Gamgee,through his eldest daughter Elanor and her husband Fastred of Greenholm.Fastred became the first Warden of Westmarch,a title handed down to his son Elfstan Fairbairn and his descendants.The family seat was at Undertowers on the Tower Hills,so that the family are often referred to as the 'Fairbairns of the Towers'.
Gamgee :
An old family of the Shire,originally from the village of Gamwich;Samwise Gamgee of the Company of the Ring belonged to this family,though his branch was renamed Gardner in honour of his replanting of the Shire.
Gammidge :
A short-lived family name of the Shire-hobbits;indeed,Hob Gammidge is the only recorded hobbit to use the name.It was a corruption of the name of his family's original home,the village of Gamwich.The name was further corrupted when Hob acquired the nickname 'Old Gammidgy',which in turn gave rise to the family name 'Gamgee'.
A hobbit family-name,apparently first used in 'Old Gammidgy',the nickname of Hob Gammidge of Tighfield.His son,Hobson,received the name in a slightly corrupted form.He became known as Roper Gamgee and that form of the name that descended to his grandson Sam.
Gamwich :
A family of hobbits who took their name from the village where they lived,Gamwich in the Shire.Over the years,as the family spread to other parts of the Shire,the name became corrupted,so at the time of the War of the Ring,their descendants living in Hobbiton were known as the Gamgees.
Greenhand :
A short-lived family descended from Holman the greenhanded,a Hobbiton gardener.The last of the Greenhands was apparently Holman's grandson and namesake,Holman Greenhand but the family's gardening tradition was carried on by his apprentice,Hamfast Gamgee.
Hornblower :
An old and important family of the Shire's Southfarthing.Its most famous member was Tobold Hornblower of Longbottom,who introduced pipe-weed into the Shire and his family remained associated with industry.Their Longbottom Leaf variety was famous and indeed barrels of Leaf bearing the Hornblower mark were found as far afield the ruins of Isengard.From Tobold's time and perhaps earlier, the Hornblowers were one of the Shire's more important families.Frodo Baggins himself had Hornblower blood - his great-grandfather Largo married one Tanta Hornblower.The meaning of this old family name is unclear;perhaps one of Tobold's ancestors actually did blow a horn of some kind or perhaps the name is a punning reference to pipe-smoking.
Longholes :
A common family name among the Bree-hobbits.
Mugwort :
A common family name among the Bree-hobbits.
Oldbuck :
The descendants of Bucca of the Marish and hereditary Thains of the Shire for many years.Gorhendad Oldbuck moved the family seat to Brandy Hall in Buckland and changed the family's name to Brandybuck.
Proudfoot :
A family of Hobbits of the Shire.All the members of this family mentioned in The Lord of the Rings were related to the Bagginses,since they were descended from Bilbo Baggins' uncle Bodo Proudfoot.There is some uncertainty about the plural form of 'Proudfoot'-the family themselves apparently used 'Proudfeet' but Bilbo pointedly preferred 'Proudfoots'.
Rushlight :
A family-name among the Men of Bree.Nothing is known of this family apart from the mere fact of its existence - none of its members are ever mentioned by name.
Sackville :
A hobbit family of the Shire.Camellia Sackville is the only member of the family to appear in Tolkien's writings;apart from her almost nothing is known about them,except that they are described as being one of the Shire's wealthier families.
Sackville-Baggins :
A short-lived family of the Shire-hobbits,formed by the marriage of Longo Baggins to Camellia Sackville It came to an end with the death of Longo's grandson Lotho in the War of the Ring.
Sandheaver :
A common family name among the Bree-hobbits.
Took :
An old family of the Shire,who farmed the lands around Tuckborough in the Westfarthing.The head of the Took family was the hereditary Thain of the Shire from the time of Isumbras I.
Tunnelly :
A common family name among the Bree-hobbits.
Underhill :
A common family name among the Bree-hobbits,who lived in the village of Staddle on the east side of the Bree-hill.
