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The name itself may have been inspired by "golem," a legend of a creature formed from clay and brought to life through the mysteries of the Kabbalah to be a servent of its maker. The stories I was able to find on the internet seem to all come from eastern Europe, and they all give the impression (to me) that they were stories told to frighten children, like a ghost story before bed-time. I believe Tolkien spent some time in Poland as a child. He may have heard the story there. Of course this is just a theory of mine. Maybe some of our more learned Barrow-downers can shed more light on it.
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