[Feb 2026!] Commission for my ~husband~ of our LOTRO characters Salwyn and Tuvelleth being gay

The history of Númenor fascinates me. There’s a lot of open canvas for a writer to work with, but it seems like one of the more neglected areas of Tolkien fandom. So I thought creating a resource for naming Númenórean characters might encourage more people to explore it. Let’s begin!

I. What Language Do I Use?

There are three languages used in Númenor for given names: Quenya and Sindarin, which are originally elvish languages, and Adûnaic, a mannish language descended from the languages spoken by the House of Hador and the House of Bëor.

To decide which one to use, first answer the following questions:

When does my character live?

What social class does my character belong to?

Are they a member of either the Faithful or the King’s Men?

Use a Quenya name if: Your character is descended from the Line of Elros and is not one of the King’s Men, nor do their parents belong to the King’s Men

Use a Sindarin name if: They are one of the nobility, are middle or upper class, or are a commoner who speaks Sindarin, AND lived before SA 2221 – 2386 OR are one of the Faithful/descended from the Faithful.

Use an Adûnaic name if: They are an Adûnaic speaking commoner OR belong to the King’s Men/are descended from them OR live after SA 3102 and the ban on elvish languages

If you don’t know which one to use, my advice would be to default to Sindarin before SA 2221, and to Adûnaic by SA 2737, and use your best judgement in between. There are other resources on the internet for Quenya and Sindarin names, so the rest of this guide is specifically about making Adûnaic names.

II. Basic Adûnaic Naming Guidelines & Resources

There are Adûnaic wordlists here (X) and here (x).

We have only a small sample of names, but rules for names seem to be flexible and can be broken for aesthetic reasons. Word order is similar to English and adjectives go before nouns.

Length:

The names of ordinary people seem to have fewer syllables. All three of the names we have for non-nobles have two syllables (Îbal, Ulbar, Zamîn). Likely more of a guideline rather than a strict rule.

Names for the nobility all have at least 3-4 syllables (Inzilbêth, Gimilkhâd, Aphanuzîr)

Gender:

Personal names usually end in consonants. Nouns in Adûnaic are gendered, but the rules for personal names are not absolute and can be broken.

Masculine endings:  -k, -r, -n, -d; in masculine names like Gimilkhâd, Gimilzôr. Possibly  -u, -û, or -ô. Attested -l.

Feminine endings:  -th, -l, -s, -z; in feminine names like Inzilbêth, Zimraphel. Possibly  -i, -î, and -ê. Attested -n.

Be very careful with vowel endings, because those are used for plurals (-î ) and noun genders. I would avoid them if possible, unless you are using a gendered noun in your name. In Adûnaic, masculine and feminine nouns only apply to male/female beings and their functions or personifications (such as “father”, “queen”).

Compounds:

When we put two nouns together in Adûnaic, we trigger the objective case change if the second element does something to the first element. The objective is formed by adding a u to the noun, either at the end or instead of the last vowel sound. In Azrubêl “sea-lover”, the word azra “sea” becomes the objective form azru because “sea” is the object of the love.

As an example, I will make some names using the word minal “heaven”. If this is an ordinary person, I might just use the word itself as a name, since it already has two syllables. Since it ends in -l, I could use it for either gender. Or if I wanted a specifically male/female name, I might change the endings to form Minak for a man, and Minaz for a woman.

But for a noble, I might add a second word like bên “servant” or zîr “friend”, to make the names Minulbên (using the objective form minul) and Minalzîr for a man, or add nithil “girl” or bêth “sayer”, to make Minalnithil and Minalbêth for a woman.

III. The Word I Need Doesn’t Exist, So Let’s Get Creative

Unfortunately, our word list for Adûnaic is fairly short compared to other languages Tolkien created. This lack of vocabulary can be a problem if you need to translate something from one language to another, or just want a very specific name. There is a solution to this problem: use words from other languages to fill in the gaps, altered to fit the sound of Adûnaic.

According to Tolkien, the ancestor language of Adûnaic is Taliska, which was influenced by several Avarin (Dark Elf) languages and the dwarves’ Khuzdul. In Beleriand, Taliska was also influenced by Elvish (probably mostly Sindarin, but Quenya also). The Numenoreans themselves also had contact with Telerin while in Numenor, and Westron is a daughter language descended from Adûnaic. So we have have an excuse to derive/reconstruct words from any of those languages into Adûnaic.  

Adûnaic nouns are made up of triconsonantal word-bases like K-R-B or G-M-L. Some bases are biconsonantal, meaning they only have two consonants. Each word base has a characteristic vowel, a vowel that has to be present somewhere in all words derived from this base, usually between the first and second consonant of the stem. So when you’re looking at a loan word, try to break it down into this structure.

Adûnaic has fewer vowel combinations than English: a, i, o, u and y, and long ê, ô, û, î, & â.

Make sure that your created word doesn’t use sounds or sound combinations that don’t exist in Adûnaic. Go to one of the word lists and ctrl+f any questionable ones.

We’ll do one together. Let’s say I want to translate Angmar (S Iron-land)  into Adûnaic, so I go to the word lists and find the word for land, zâyan.

Good, but now we run into the problem: Adûnaic has no word for iron. But Sindarin does, ang, so let’s use that as our base.

Can we just adopt ang directly into Adûnaic as a loan word? No, because a quick search tells us that Adûnaic does not have the ‘ng’ sound. So we need to change it a little before we use it.

First we break down our parent word into a consonant base: N-G.

Now we pick a characteristic vowel. I choose ‘a’, and I’m going to keep it in the same place as the original word.

Now we need to break up that pesky ‘ng’ sound. I could drop or add a consonant, or I could insert a vowel.

I like the idea of putting in a vowel, so I’m going to double the a and form anag.

Say it out loud. If it sounds awful or unpronounceable, change it. All created words must pass the sound test. I like the sound of this word, so I’ll use it.

This gives us the translation Anagzâyan, Iron-Land.

Coda: I used a name with a mistake, help!

If you messed up but already used the name in your writing and can’t retcon, handwave the discrepancy with an in-universe explanation. Some suggestions:

Clerical bureaucratic error on birth records

My parents are functionally illiterate, and made a mistake on my paperwork

It’s a name in my parents’ native or second language

It’s a foreign name my parents liked

It’s from a foreign loan word in the first place

It’s an inherited family name

My parents wanted a boy/girl, and got me

My family is just strange

It’s an archaic form, like being named after a historical figure

It’s correct in a different or non-standard dialect

This word just has an irregular form, languages are weird

(Disclaimer: I am not a linguist, if you see improvements or errors please contact me!)