The British author
J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973) and the names of fictional characters and places he invented for
his legendarium have had
a substantial impact on culture, and have become the namesakes of various things around and outside the world, including street names, mountains, companies, species of animals and plants, asteroids, and other notable objects.
By convention, certain classes of features on Saturn's moon
Titan are named after elements from Middle-earth.[15]Colles (small hills or knobs) are named for characters,[16] while
montes (mountains) are named for mountains of Middle-earth.[17]
Middle-earth Enterprises, formerly known as Tolkien Enterprises, is a
trading name for a division of
The Saul Zaentz Company, located in
Berkeley, California. The company owns the worldwide exclusive rights to certain elements of
J. R. R. Tolkien's two most famous literary works: The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. These elements include the titles of the works, the names of characters contained within as well as the names of places, objects and events within them, and certain short phrases and sayings from the works.[24]
The
Tolkien Estate is the legal body which manages the property of J. R. R. Tolkien, including the copyright in his works. The individual copyrights have for the most part been assigned by the Estate to subsidiary entities such as the J. R. R. Tolkien Discretionary Settlement and
The Tolkien Trust.[27][28]
Mithril, a decentralized social media platform[30]
The Rivendell Winery operated from 1987 to December 2008 in New York's Hudson River Valley; in 2003 Rivendell's 2003 Dry Riesling captured the Governor's Cup at the 19th annual New York Wine and Food Classic.[31]
Smaug, a protein that inhibits translation of mRNA nanos (Greek for dwarf) in Drosophila embryos. Named after the dragon
Smaug from The Hobbit.[33]
Glorund, a protein that inhibits translation of mRNA nanos in Drosophila ovaries. Named after Glórund, an early name for
Glaurung, the first dragon in
Tolkien's legendarium.[33]
Bard, a gene in Drosophila that encodes the protein Bard, which is essential in degrading the protein Smaug. Named after
Bard the Bowman, who killed Smaug in The Hobbit.[34]
Marillion, a British rock band, formed in 1979, was named "The Silmarillion", but was shortened to Marillion in 1981 to avoid potential copyright conflicts.[53][54]
Shadowfax, a new-age group, took its name from Gandalf the White's horse Shadowfax.[55]
Ships
J.R. Tolkien, a gaff-topsail
schooner of Netherlands registry used for passenger cruises on the
Baltic Sea and elsewhere in European waters, was built in 1964, and renamed in honour of Tolkien in 1998.[56][57][58]
Places
Streets
The "Tolkien Road" in
Eastbourne, East Sussex, was named after Tolkien whereas the "Tolkien Way" in
Stoke-on-Trent is named after Tolkien's eldest son, Fr. John Francis Tolkien, who was the priest in charge at the nearby Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Angels and St. Peter in Chains.[59] In the
Hall Green and
Moseley areas of
Birmingham, parks and walkways are dedicated to J. R. R. Tolkien, especially at the Millstream Way and
Moseley Bog.[60] Collectively the parks are known as the Shire Country Parks.[60] In
Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England there is a collection of roads in the 'Weston Village' named after locales of Middle Earth, namely Hobbiton Road, Bree Close, Arnor Close, Rivendell, Westmarch Way and Buckland Green.[61]
In the Dutch town of
Geldrop, near
Eindhoven, the streets of an entire new neighbourhood are named after Tolkien himself ("Laan van Tolkien") and some of the best-known characters from his books.[62]
Two streets at
Warsaw,
Poland were named in 2022 after J.R.R. Tolkien and Gandalf. Both streets are located at neighbourhood commonly called
Mordor.[63]
Housing
The
Bend, Oregon housing development Forest Creek (formerly "The Shire") features the Tolkien-inspired names Ring Bearer Court, Shire Lane, and Wizard Lane.[64] One of the student housing complexes at the
University of California, Irvine is named Middle Earth; its halls and other facilities were selected from Tolkien's legendarium.[65]
In the Silicon Valley towns of
Saratoga and
San Jose in California, there are two housing developments with street names drawn from Tolkien's works. About a dozen Tolkien-derived street names also appear scattered throughout the town of
Lake Forest, California. The
Columbia, Maryland, neighbourhood of Hobbit's Glen and its street names (including
Rivendell Lane, Tooks Way, and Oakenshield Circle) come from Tolkien's works.[66]
Taxonomy
It has been noted that "Tolkien has been accorded formal taxonomic commemoration like no other author."[67] In the field of taxonomy, over 200 taxa (genera and species) have been given scientific names honouring, or deriving from, characters or other fictional elements from The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and other works set in
Middle-earth.[25]
Several taxa have been named after the character
Gollum (also known as Sméagol), as well as for various
hobbits, the small humanlike creatures such as
Bilbo and
Frodo Baggins. Various
elves,
dwarves, and other creatures that appear in his writings. Tolkien himself has been honoured in the names of several species. In 1978, paleontologist
Leigh Van Valen named over 20 taxa of extinct mammals after Tolkien lore in a single paper.[68][69] The entomologist
Karl-Johan Hedqvist, also a fan of Tolkien, named several wasp genera after Tolkien's characters.[70] In 1999, entomologist
Lauri Kaila described 46 new species of Elachista moths and named 38 of them after Tolkien mythology.[25][71]
In 2004, the extinct hominid Homo floresiensis was described, and quickly earned the nickname "hobbit" due to its small size.[72]
Pink background shading indicates that this species name has been synonymised and is no longer in use
"The name tolkieni honors the late J.R.R. Tolkien, creator of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and many delightful creatures of long ago in the time of Middle-earth."
"Named after John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, who was born in Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa on 3rd January 1892 and died on 2nd September 1973. He is internationally recognised for his authorship of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, amongst other works. His fictional 'Middle Earth' is believed to have been inspired in part by the exceptional natural scenery of Hogsback, the type locality of this species."
"The specific epithet tolkieni is in honour of the writer, poet, philologist, and academic John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (J.R.R. Tolkien, 1892–1973), creator of Middle-earth and author of fantasy works like “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings”. The amazing colours of the new species evoke the magnificent creatures that seem to only exist in fantasy worlds."; "In a stream in the forest there lived a Hyloscirtus. Not a nasty, dirty stream, with spoor of contamination and a muddy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy stream with nothing in it to perch on or to eat: it was a Hyloscirtus-stream, and that means environmental quality."
"Mithrandir (Sindarin, gray wanderer), Elvish name for Olorin, wisest of the Istari in The Lord of the Rings. Reference is to the subtleness of the differences between the subgenera."
"From the character Sauron, referred to as 'the eye' in Tolkien’s 'The Lord of the Rings', in reference to the striking red and black mottled eye of this taxon."
"Gandalfus is derived from the name of the omnipotent 'Gandalf', a character in J. R. Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings', which was made into a film by Peter Jackson, in New Zealand, the home of the type species."
"In the mythology of J. R.R. Tolkien, 'Tulkas' is one of the ainur or powers that helped shape arda or middle earth. One of the characteristics of Tulkas is that of running faster than any other creature. Liolaemus tulkas is very fast in short sprints."
"The generic name is proposed after Yavanna, fictional character of The Silmarillion written by J.R.R. Tolkien. In Tolkien’s writings, Yavanna is a godlike entity (an Ainur), creator of the plants and animals that inhabit the Middle Earth."
"This species is named sauroni for the distinctive pygidial depression with elongate turbercle that resembles the Eye of Sauron from Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings."
"In Peter Jackson’s movies based on the books, the Balrog is depicted as wielding a long whip of fire, reminiscent of the very long embolus of this species."
"The generic name is based on that of the main antagonist, Sauron, in J. R. R. Tolkien’s novel ‘The Lord of the Rings’. The name alludes to the distinctive fused orange rings that encircle the VHW ocelli."
"The epithet galadrielae refers to the character Galadriel in the trilogy 'The Lord of the Rings' by J. R. R. Tolkien. The elf ruler of Lothlórien is bearer of the ring Nenya, also known as the ring of water. It is used herein in reference to the additional bony rings diagnostic of the new species and its association with freshwater habitats."
"The species name is derived from Thorin II Oakenshield, a fictional character in the J.R.R. Tolkien novel ‘The Hobbit’. [...] It is widely known and accepted that Hogsback was the inspiration behind J.R.R. Tolkien's novels ‘The Hobbit’ and the ‘Lord of the Rings’ series. The name references its small size, its complicated call and the fact that it is found at the base of a large mountain in Hogsback."
The specific epithet is "based on the given name of the dwarf Balin, a refounder of the underground kingdom of Moria, one of Thorin Oakenshield's Company of Dwarves who had accompanied Bilbo Baggins on the Quest of Erebor"
"The name of this species refers to the name of Gimli, one of the dwarfs in J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece 'The Lord of the Rings', because of its small size (the smallest known member of the Nebela collaris complex) and stout shape. In addition, it has been found abundantly in a forest, and Gimli was unique among his kind to have been travelling in the woods."
"Azaghâl was the king of the Broadbeam Dwarves, one of the seven dwarf clans, and Lord of the dwarven realm of Belegost in the Blue Mountains during Middle Earth's First Age. The name comes from a double allusion, first about the region where the species was found, Terra do Meio, freely translated as 'Middle Earth' in English, [the] name of the fictional world of Tolkien's legendarium, and second by the fact that the new species occurs in a mountainous region and presents a relatively small size, which are both typical features of the fictional dwarves."
"Refers to the dwarf Gimli, one of the main characters from J.R.R. Tolkien’s famous novel 'The Lord of the Rings'. This name was chosen because in Tolkien’s novel the dwarves are a race associated with mining and have a strong admiration for caves. Particularly, Gimli explicitly expresses his fascination for the Glittering Caves of Aglarond with their extensive series of spectacular speleothems, and after the defeat of Sauron he was given the lordship over this marvelous cave. The intention of the specific name is to make a metaphorical association with the close relationship of this species with its subterranean habitat."
"The name hobbiti is given in allusion to the famous fictional race of small creatures created by J. R. Tolkien (hobbits) which, like the new species, dwell in burrows."
"Nach Gollum (oder Smeagol) - ein Fabelwesen, Ausgeburt von J. R. R. TOLKIEN, geheimnisvolle und rätselhafte Kreatur, die in Dunkelheit, am liebsten unterirdisch lebte."
"Peperomia hobbitoides is a small and humble plant that lives in an almost fairyland-like environment of wet karst outcrops in rain forest, and it is strongly and faithfully tied to this home substrate. Indeed, it spends perhaps the greater part of the year in holes and depressions in the rock as a resting tuber. It is edible, an attribute of high esteem among hobbits."
"The specific epithet ... refers to the Hobbits ... a literary fictitious race of people who have big and hairy feet; a metaphor of the swollen and hairy tarsi characteristic of this species."
A tiny fly (length<2 mm) "dedicated to Bilbo Baggins [...] who, being an ordinary hobbit, found the ring of power in J.R.R. Tolkienʼs fantasy novel The Hobbit."
"Named after Gollum, a character from J. R. R. Tolkien’s books ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’, a creature that went underground and during its subterranean life changed its morphological features."
"After the fictional Nazgûl characters created by J.R.R. Tolkien, who, mounted on winged creatures, could fly long distances, even on steep peaks; on the other hand, this new species has a wide distribution and dispersal capacity throughout the highlands near the Argentinean
Andes, which resembles the behaviour of the Nazgûl."
Named "in reference to the 'Nazgûl', characters created by J.R.R. Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings (1954). Also known as Ring-wraiths, they were nine men who succumbed to Sauron’s power and were transformed into white ghostly figures wearing black cloaks—the colouration that the new population being described herein shares."
"Fimbrethil, entwife loved by Fangorn in The Lord of the Rings. Reference is to partly primate-like morphology and the disappearance of both Finbrethils."
"In Tolkien’s mythology Smaug, the Golden, is the last of the Middle Earth dragons. The name Liolaemus smaug is because this new species exhibit a golden coloration on body."
"The species name smaug, refers to the dragon Smaug, the greatest and most powerful in the later part of the Third Age in the books of J.R.R. Tolkien."
Named "for Ancalagon the Black, the largest dragon in J. R. R. Tokien’s universe; because of the dark coloration and aspect of this new species, as well as its size compared to many other heteropterans."
"The species is named after "Smaug", the dragon from J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel, The Hobbit. The name is derived from the old German verb 'smeuganan' meaning "to creep" or "to squeeze through a hole". The type specimens of this species were found within crevices of rocks and boulders inside the forest. Additionally, like dragons, the dorsum is armoured with large conical tubercles."
"Quenya (Elvish) Ambaróna, one of Fangorn's shorter names for his forest. Reference is to the dimness of the forest and of the affinities of this species."
"Quenya (elvish) ondo, rock, and lindë, song. Reference is to Rock Bench and to the hidden city Ondolindë or
Gondolin of The Silmarillion. The Rock Bench specimens and others were formerly as hidden (and unsorted)."
"Quenya (Elvish) palantir, distant watcher, one of 7 globes made by Fëanor that gave visions through spacetime. Reference is to the long duration of the genus."
"The specific epithet lasgalenensis is derived from the name Eryn Lasgalen which means in the "Wood of Greenleaves" in the fictional Sindarian language from J.R.R Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (1955). It was the name used by the Wood Elves for the Mirkwood Forest after its cleansing following the War of the Ring. This name was chosen because Tolkien's (1955) description of this forest showed great similarity to the cloudy, upland forests within which this species is found."
The specific name "means ‘Black Land’ in Sindarin, a fictional language used in The Lord of the Rings, the epic high-fantasy novel written by English author J. R. R. Tolkien [...] Mordor is volcanic and partly arid, like the Galápagos."
Specific epithet bruinen for the Loudwater of Rivendell and the flood that took the form of great horses, alluding to the common name “horseface loach” for the genus
"The species name dordaidelosensis, meaning 'living in Dor Daidelos,' is inspired by the book Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien. According to the book, Dor Daidelos is 'The Region of Everlasting Cold' and the northernmost region of Middle Earth in the First Age."
"The species epithet fangorn is [...] derived from the name of a deep, dark woodland in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth. [...] We use this name in reference not only to the similarities between Fangorn forest and the forests in which the new species occurs, but also to the tree-like appearance of Uroplatus geckos, which make them seem like the 'tree spirits' that are Tolkien’s Ents (Flieger 2013)."
"We name the new species after Mount Orodruin. In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the One Ring was forged on Mount Orodruin by the Dark Lord Sauron. The name shows the characteristic feature of the moth: black triangular wings with a yellow suffusion in the basal part, resembling a dark volcano with an erupting top"
"Sindarin (Elvish) mellon, friend, the password of the west gate of Khazad-dûm in The Lord of the Rings. Reference is to similarly to P. palantir, presumptive diet of plants"
"E. aranella seems to owe its name to aran-, the 'royal prefix used by the Kings of Arthedain after Malvegil and by the Chieftains of the Dúnedain of the North to indicate their claim to all of Arnor'".[198]
"Angulócë, dragon — Tolkien’s Quenya language ( Faulskanger 2008). The name, which is a noun in apposition, alludes to the dragon-like facies of the species."
"The specific name is a noun in apposition taken from the fictional language Sindarin created by J.R.R. Tolkien. The Sindarin is one of the languages spoken by the Elves. The word 'perian' is translated as 'small' and was used to refer to the Hobbits, the smaller kind of Middle Earth; in reference to its small size, to date the smallest thiodinine ever discovered"
"Psammatides, after 'Psammatos psammatides' [sic], 'the sand sorcerer', a character of J.R.R. Tolkien’s book 'Roverandom', from the Greek psammos, sand, and ides, son of. In allusion to the sand-dwelling behavior of the species."
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