The creature Gothmog at the Siege of Minas Tirith

[Gordis]

Thank you, Formendacil, you have brilliantly answered the questions for me! In fact you answered better than I could do it myself

Originally Posted by Inziladun

As to who used the name 'Minas Morgul' first, Gandalf called the Black Captain 'a great king and sorceror of old'. I see no problem with the view that it was so named by the Gondorians, who were well aware of the nature of the creatures in command there.

I think the Gondorians were well aware of the fact that the person who captured Minas Ithil and ruled it now was the very same Witch-King whom they have defeated in the North. If they had any doubts, the challenges sent by the WK to Earnur would make it abundantly clear. So, the first choice for a new name for Minas Ithil would be to name it simply "the tower of the Witch-King"

Gondorians spoke Sindarin and named places in this language. Morgul means Black Sorcery, Witchcraft.

If the Witch-King, the King of Witchcraft, the king of Black Sorcery, was known in Sindarin as "Aran Morgul", the King of Morgul, then the new place name would be "Minas Morgul" automatically. And both sides, Gondorians ad nazgul alike, could have started to use it independently.

Originally Posted by Inziladun

The Morgul-king? Why not 'face King Morgul'?

Formendacil has answered that one.
Because he was the King of Black Sorcery, the Witch-king, not a person whose name translates as "Black Sorcery". Morgul was never a simple personal name, it was more like translation of the"Witch"-part in "the Witch-King" or the "sorcerer king"
(But glad would he have been to know its fate who wrought it slowly long ago in the North-kingdom when the Dúnedain were young, and chief among their foes was the dread realm of Angmar and its sorcerer king..)

Originally Posted by obloquy

Speaking of that, what is this excerpt from, Gordis? What is RC? I've never seen the quotation before, but you appear to be basing your claim on a shorthand note in a commentary piece. I see just as much evidence here for the position that Sauron sometimes went by "S."

RC is a book by Wayne G. Hammond & Christina Scull, published by HarperCollins. Its full title is "The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion". You can see it here on Amazon.com: RC
What is interesting in this book is that the authors have quoted parts of previously unpublished Tolkien's "the Hunt for the Ring" manuscripts kept in the Marquette University. You must be familiar with other parts of these texts if you have Unfinished Tales. These new Tolkien texts constitute only a small part of the RC book, about 10 pages in whole, I believe, but they are very interesting. There are also excerpts from the unpublished Tolkien's "Time-Schemes" and "Nomenclature". I advise you to buy the book: two-three years ago I have bought a used RC book on Amazon UK for only 3 euros.

Originally Posted by Formendacil

Khamûl the Shadow of the East

What I'd like to draw to attention here is that, if one were to place a single comma into the text, right after the name "Khamûl," then the phrase "the Shadow of the East" wouldn't be merely a descriptor of Khamûl, but a possible explanation. Even without the comma to make this a clear apposition, it's still a possible interpretation--one that would be in keeping with my general idea that the Nazgûl haven't retained actual names, but--alas!--no more than cool, unprovable, supposition on my part.

I think "Khamûl" is not a real personal name either.

A good guess would be that Khamûl is a Black Tongue word.
If so, please compare the words "nazgûl" and "Khamûl". The first Black Tongue word is no mystery:
"nazgûl"= "ringwraith"
"nazg"="ring"
"gûl" or "ûl"="wraith"

My guess that "ûl" in "Khamûl" also means "wraith", "shadow".

And then it becomes obvious that it was the nickname given to the nazgûl after he had become a wraith, not at his birth.

The "Shadow of the East" that goes after "ûl" (UT) may be a simple translation of the name. Especially considering that in the East there is a realm called "Khand", which quite probably means "Eastern land".

So basically we have two nazgul, known in the Third Age as "The King of Black Sorcery/Witchcraft" and "The Wraith/Shadow of the East" respectively. Both nicknames have nothing to do with their original names as living Men and their original identities. There could have been other nazgul called "the Shadow of the South" or "the Shadow of Rhun" etc. Some may have got new names from Sauron in memory of the First Age evil heroes as "Gothmog" or well...Glaurung or Ancalagon

Why new names for the nazgul?- because they have left their old identities behind. I don't think they have forgotten who they used to be, but this page in their lives is shut forever. Come on, it happens not only with nazgul. King Elessar had been called Estel in his youth, Thorongil and Aragorn later, but the name he will be remembered by in history is King Elessar.

Moreover in ME a real name is a powerful thing, letting it be generally known makes one vulnerable. Remember Treebeard's reaction?

An Ent?' said Merry. 'What's that? But what do you call yourself? What's your real name?'
'Hoo now!' replied Treebeard. 'Hoo! Now that would be telling! Not so hasty.
[...]
'Nobody else calls us hobbits; we call ourselves that,' said Pippin.
'Hoom, hmm! Come now! Not so hasty! You call yourselves hobbits? But you should not go telling just anybody. You'll be letting out your own right names if you're not careful.'

I guess in Mordor the real original names of the nazgul was top secret classified info, much like the real name of Sauron himself. What was it, really? Nobody knows. Not Sauron= "the Abhorred" certainly.