Nolofinwëan Theme Naming
Itâs frankly fascinating and ripe for mass speculation. The family dynamics and the Ăoldorin politics one could infer based on their names alone!
The NolofinwĂ«anâs, with the exception of Maeglin and Fingolfin, Tolkien did not give mother names. This has nothing to do with anything since I have only analyzed father names so far, it just makes me really mad.
Like the Arafinwean post this is listed Sindarinâ Noldorin (Father name)â Meaning; Noldorin (Mother name)â Meaning.
Fingolfinâ NolofinwĂ« (F)â Wise FinwĂ«; AracĂĄno (M)â Noble Commander
Fingonâ FindecĂĄno (F)â Hair Commander
Turgonâ TurucĂĄno (F)â Victory Commander/Ruling Lord
Ireth (Aredhel)â ĂrissĂ« (F)â Desirable Lady
Argonâ AracĂĄno (F)â Noble Commander
Idrilâ ItarillĂ« (F)â Sparkling Brilliance
Maeglin (F)â LĂłmion (M)â Son of Twilight
Special mention to the sister of Fingolfin: Lalwenâ ĂrimĂ« (F)â Desirable/Lovely; LalwendĂ« (M)â Laughing Maiden
As we can see, Fingolfin, who usually goes by his father name, named all his sons after his mother name.
Compare this with FĂ«anor who usually goes by his mother name and named all his sons after his father name, and Finarfin who goes by his father name and named his children after his father name.
Unintended(?) theme with Finarfin, the element araâNobleâ in Fingolfinâs mother name and Finarfinâs father name.
His daughter he named after his sister, both derived from the word Ărima âdesirable/lovelyâ.
An early form of Idrilâs name was ĂrildĂ«, also derived from Ărima like her aunt and grandaunt before her. Unfortunately Tolkien had his heart set on the name Idril and wrestled with her Quenya name as a result. According to the internal rules he set for Sindarin and Quenya, he could either change her Sindarin name to Idhril or change her Quenya name to ItarillĂ«. He chose the latter and broke the theme, as well as my heart.
No for real, if heâd stuck to the Ărima link youâd have the fascinating pattern of Fingolfin naming his daughter after his sister, who explicitly followed him to Middle-earth, and Turgon naming his daughter after his sister, who followed him to Gondolin. Jock sister-nerd brother supremacy (although we have no idea what Lalwenâs personality even was, thanks Jirt).
All information taken from: Parf Edhellen because Iâm no scholar.
Changed all instances of kĂĄno to cĂĄno because, as far as I can tell, thatâs the lastest one but it honestly has no meaning beyond a cosmetic changed compared to the idril vs idhril debacle. I personally think kĂĄno looks better.
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