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Probably derived from a flower name1

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  • Updated 15 December 2022
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May Gamgee

A sister of Sam Gamgee

The fourth of the six children of Hamfast Gamgee and Bell Goodchild. May was born in III 2976 (the Shire-year 1376), making her four years older than the next of the six children, her famous brother Samwise Gamgee. May had an aunt, the sister of her father Hamfast, who had the name 'May', and it seems likely that the younger May was named for this aunt (both of these names would ultimately derive from the mayflower plant). May would presumably have been raised in the Gamgee family's Hobbit-hole on Bagshot Row in Hobbiton, but of her own family and later life we have no record.


Notes

1

May's sisters Daisy and Marigold were both named after flowers, so it's most likely that May's name came from the mayflower, a name used for the flowers of various plants that blossom in, and take their name from, the month of May.

In fact the month named 'May' was itself unknown in the Shire, and the Hobbit name 'May' was likely derived from the fifth month of the Shire year instead. Tolkien gives the name of that month as Thrimidge, but that is an Old English month name that merely represents the original, unknown, name of the month among the Shire-hobbits. It is perhaps notable that the Elvish names for this month translate as 'flowering', but it is unknown whether this connection had any influence on the name used in the Shire.

See also...

May

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About this entry:

  • Updated 15 December 2022
  • This entry is complete

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