# I just met Thorin Oakenshield, believe it or not **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 19, 2007, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-met-thorin-oakenshield-believe-it-or-not/419743 "2007-09-19T14:42:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-met-thorin-oakenshield-believe-it-or-not/419743/81 "2007-09-21T05:34:44Z")
[QUOTE=Triskadecamus] Do you know the tale of Elavil? I have heard of his travels in far away Norpramin. Tris [/QUOTE] All right you two - find a room. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Not\_A\_Tame\_Lion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e36b37/32.png) [@Not\_A\_Tame\_Lion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_A_Tame_Lion)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-met-thorin-oakenshield-believe-it-or-not/419743/82 "2007-09-21T06:55:17Z")
Regarding names from Tolkien’s writings: I know the old man considered himself to be writing–or really, recreating–a mythological history of the English people; that is, he considered the stories he was making up to be representative of what the English would have know as their cultural epics a la “The Iliad” and such, if such works had been passed down to later generations. (There’s a lot of jive on this in the _History of Middle Earth_ volumes, if I remember right; I read that stuff years ago.) And Tolkien used real old Anglo-Saxon dialects for his fictional languages. So given that, I wouldn’t be surprised to find at least some of these names being used and passed on entirely unrelated to his works. I bet some of them were probably being used _before_ he ever wrote a word. For example, I know the name Eärendil has some currency still, usually spelled like Arundel or something similar. (I think that specific example was mentioned in the _HoME_ volumes.) So I guess everyone can just go nuts with the names without feeling self-conscious, 'cause there’s probably lots of folks in far corners of the British Isles who have the same names. And who’ve never read _The Lord Of The Rings._ Or, possibly, have never read. So Thorin Oakenshield? Yeah, I believe it. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-met-thorin-oakenshield-believe-it-or-not/419743/83 "2016-04-17T16:12:37Z")
Bumped. This singer, named after a Tolkien character, performed at Bach Festival at Baldwin Wallace University this weekend, but unfortunately I didn’t have a chance to hear her: [http://www.luthienbrackett.com/#!about/c1enr](http://www.luthienbrackett.com/#!about/c1enr) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-met-thorin-oakenshield-believe-it-or-not/419743/84 "2016-04-17T16:52:22Z")
I just looked for any information that’s available about how many women are named Arwen in the U.S. There are certainly more than 500 of them. As you can see from the following websites, the proportion of babies named Arwen in the U.S. has been about 85 per 1,000,000 babies over the past 15 years or so. There are about 4,000,000 babies born each year in the U.S. So the number of babies given the name Arwen over that time is about 15 times 4 times 85. And there are certainly lots of them who were born more than 15 years ago. One that I know was born about 1972: > **[Baby Name Generator: Find your perfect baby name](https://www.babycenter.com/baby-names/search/baby-name-generator?babyNameId=1468411)** > > Search & find more than 300,000 baby names, their meaning, origin, popularity, and more. Also get suggestions on similar baby names for baby boys and baby… [https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/infantcare/conditioninfo/Pages/born.aspx](https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/infantcare/conditioninfo/Pages/born.aspx) ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-met-thorin-oakenshield-believe-it-or-not/419743/85 "2016-04-17T18:13:49Z")
> [@Not\_A\_Tame\_Lion](#): > > Regarding names from Tolkien’s writings: I know the old man considered himself to be writing–or really, recreating–a mythological history of the English people; that is, he considered the stories he was making up to be representative of what the English would have know as their cultural epics a la “The Iliad” and such, if such works had been passed down to later generations. (There’s a lot of jive on this in the _History of Middle Earth_ volumes, if I remember right; I read that stuff years ago.) And Tolkien used real old Anglo-Saxon dialects for his fictional languages. > > So given that, I wouldn’t be surprised to find at least some of these names being used and passed on entirely unrelated to his works. I bet some of them were probably being used _before_ he ever wrote a word. > > For example, I know the name Eärendil has some currency still, usually spelled like Arundel or something similar. (I think that specific example was mentioned in the _HoME_ volumes.) So I guess everyone can just go nuts with the names without feeling self-conscious, 'cause there’s probably lots of folks in far corners of the British Isles who have the same names. And who’ve never read _The Lord Of The Rings._ Or, possibly, have never read. > > So Thorin Oakenshield? Yeah, I believe it. Living in Anne Arundel county I know that Arundel means “Nest of Eagles” perhaps just similar etymology? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-met-thorin-oakenshield-believe-it-or-not/419743/86 "2016-04-17T19:18:53Z")
Don’t see “Arundel” listed as either a Sindarin or Quenya word: [http://www.jrrvf.com/hisweloke/sindar/online/sindar/dict-sd-en.html](http://www.jrrvf.com/hisweloke/sindar/online/sindar/dict-sd-en.html) [http://www.rialian.com/quenya-english.htm](http://www.rialian.com/quenya-english.htm) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-met-thorin-oakenshield-believe-it-or-not/419743/87 "2016-04-17T19:24:18Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Living in Anne Arundel county I know that Arundel means “Nest of Eagles” perhaps just similar etymology? > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Don’t see “Arundel” listed as either a Sindarin or Quenya word: > > [A Sindarin and Noldorin dictionary](http://www.jrrvf.com/hisweloke/sindar/online/sindar/dict-sd-en.html) > [http://www.rialian.com/quenya-english.htm](http://www.rialian.com/quenya-english.htm) Anne was the daughter of the [Baron of Wardour!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Arundell,_1st_Baron_Arundell_of_Wardour) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-met-thorin-oakenshield-believe-it-or-not/419743/88 "2016-04-17T21:37:27Z")
Since this thread was last active, I’ve had a kid in one of my camp groups named “Serenity”. I didn’t ask her to be sure, but stopping to think about it, she was about the right age to be named after the ship. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-met-thorin-oakenshield-believe-it-or-not/419743/89 "2016-04-17T22:33:49Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > No, Turgon. > > Celebrex was the 2nd son of Isordil (by his wife Feldene). Mevacor was of that line too. But he fell into dispute with Indocin, and sailed off to the Islets of Langerhans. Well done, doc. Well done. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-met-thorin-oakenshield-believe-it-or-not/419743/90 "2016-04-18T01:20:14Z")
And the Islets of Langerhans, as we all know, are at the Government Publishing Office in Washington, D.C. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-met-thorin-oakenshield-believe-it-or-not/419743/91 "2016-04-18T03:19:50Z")
At what latitude and longitude? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-met-thorin-oakenshield-believe-it-or-not/419743/92 "2016-04-18T03:27:45Z")
> **[Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrift_Just_Off_the_Islets_of_Langerhans)** > > "Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54' N, Longitude 77° 00' 13" W" is a 1974 science fiction novelette by Harlan Ellison. It was originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in October 1974, and subsequently republished in Ellison's 1975 collection of god-themed short fiction, Deathbird Stories, in the 1991 Byron Preiss-edited anthology The Ultimate Werewolf, and in Ellison's 2006 anthology "The Essential Ellison: A 50 Year Retrospective". > The islets of ... ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-met-thorin-oakenshield-believe-it-or-not/419743/93 "2016-04-18T17:09:15Z")
I know somebody who gave their kid the middle name of Atriedes. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-met-thorin-oakenshield-believe-it-or-not/419743/94 "2016-04-18T17:15:18Z")
I knew (well, heard tell of…the son of a friend of my first wife) a kid named Strider. And this was decades before the movies came out, so this is some hard-core geekiness. He had a sister whose middle name was Evenstar. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-met-thorin-oakenshield-believe-it-or-not/419743.md?page=4)