Web site hatches
hordes of hobbits
-- names, at leastNext time you're sitting around with nothing to do but look for typos in your newspaper, try plugging your friends' names into the Hobbit Name Generator at www.chriswetherell.com/hobbit.
The site was created by programmer and musician Chris Wetherell just for fun, but is generating so many hits that logging on can be slow and difficult at times.
Names were compiled from the "Lord of the Rings" appendices, and the "algorithm is simple," Wetherell explains on his Web site.
"It takes the first and last letter of each name then, based on a character set, expresses those letters as a two-digit key which maps to the index of a particular Hobbit name."
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. But you don't have to understand to play. Here are some of the names we tried:
>> Benny Agbayani: Sancho Frumblefoot of Bywater
>> Paula Akana: Flora Proudneck of Tuckborough
>> Ben Cayetano: Todo Moss of Lake-by-Downs
>> Frank DeLima: Fastolph Baggins of Bywater
>> Jeremy Harris: Pimpernel Grubb of Little Delving
>> Hoku Ho: Dora Bramble of Willowbottom
>> June Jones: Dimple Boffin of Whitfurrows
>> Carole Kai: Daisy Deepdelver of Brockenborings
>> Melveen Leed: Esmerelda Bunce of Brockenborings
>> Kathy Muneno: Lila Overhill of Nobottle
>> Nainoa Thompson: Polo Gamgee-Took of Bywater
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