I was watching a show on Netflix about british castles and in the episode on the Tower of London, one of the historians claimed that the original architect, a man named Gundulf of Rochester was at least partly Tolkien’s inspiration for Gandalf. Which took me by surprise because I was under the impression that Gandalf’s name came pretty much directly from the Dvergatal. Is the Gundulf/Gandalf connection taken seriously by Tolkien fans or is it a reach at best?
“Gandalf” is a name mentioned in the Prose Edda. It means “wand-elf”, which should be easy to see.
Of course “Gandalf” was a name given to Olorin by Men, who realized he wasn’t exactly human. So they thought he was more like an Elf, an Elf with a staff.
The real inspirations for Gandalf are of course both Merlin and Oðin.