Last names in Middle-earth

[Alfirin]

Originally Posted by Thinlómien

If they needed more names than their own, they could use their father's name (like we could say for example Frodo son of Drogo) or their place of origin (Frodo from Hobbiton) or nicknames like Legate mentioned above.

Don't forget profession, in a lot of the parts of the world at one time, you surname was the sort of work you did. Think about how many common anglo-saxon surnames are professions, Thatcher, Smith, Weaver, Carter, Carpenter, Hunter etc.

I would also like to point out that in our own world historically, there were a lot of cultures where you weren't allowed to have a surname if you were a commoner, that was a privledge reserved for those of noble blood. It underescored the fact that they were important and you weren't. for example if I recall The first non-noble class person in Japan to get a surname didn't do so until the late 1870's, and THAT was a special reward bestowed by the emperor (for suving lost at sea for a record breaking time, as I recall)