Merry is the name of one of Tolkien’s key characters in The Lord of the Rings. His real name is Meriadoc Brandybuck, “though that was seldom remembered”. In early drafts Merry had the first name Marmaduke. After some research, it appears to me that both names once indicated much the same thing. A competent assertive male who had both lands and substantial disposable income from his lands. Queen Elizabeth I, writing to Walsingham in a letter, clearly gives this meaning when she talks of a ‘marmaduke’ as a type of man rather than a personal name. Clearly the name is then fitting for the hobbit destined to become the master of Brandy Hall.

There are however some historical candidates who might have inspired Merry’s name(s). Let’s look at these, and see which are relevant to the character and actions of Tolkien’s Merry:

1. There was a Cornish saint, Saint Meriadoc (Meriasek in Cornish), of circa the 5th or 6th century. Originally hailing from Wales, he evangelised parts of Cornwall around Camborne and was later venerated in the Land’s End district. Thereafter he crossed the Channel to Brittany, becoming a hermit there and then a bishop. In the 15th century his Breton cult was sustained and boosted, and his Life lavishly embroidered, by Brittany’s ‘House of Rohan’. This ‘House’ being a large aristocratic grouping of ambitious viscounts — who also fudged and faked a supposed descent from the legendary and probably imaginary 3rd century King of Brittany ‘Conan Meriadoc’ (really). Interestingly they appear to have had early connections into Bohemia, and a ‘House’ there, which I guess could have interested Tolkien re: a possible ancient Goth connection. But there seems little to connect either the saint or the king with Tolkien’s Merry, other than the obvious name of the ‘House of Rohan’. But the fact that the saint originally came from Wales (a fact confirmed by reliable 19th century scholars, rather than the confabulating ‘House’) is useful to know, since it establishes the form of the name there at an early date.

2. The writer Thomas of Britain’s fragmentary Arthurian Tristran (12th century) has one Mariadok as King Mark of Cornwall’s efficient right-hand man. Mariadok spies on the lovers Tristran and Isolde, but fails several times to reveal them to the king. Recall that Tolkien’s Merry is revealed to be a benign spy and spy-master, as well as an efficient ‘right-hand man’ organiser for Frodo and his companions. Readers will recall that this is the function that Merry efficiently serves in the first half of Fellowship. Again, it’s also useful to know the name was in real use in England in the 12th century.

3. There is an epic Arthurian Meriadoc tale (British ms. of the early 14th century), in which the hero Meriadoc is a protege of Sir Kay at King Arthur’s Court and later a knight. His full epic is long and very fanciful, but there are certainly several elements that match with Tolkien’s Merry in The Lord of the Rings:

i) according to one source who read this tale closely, as a young man the story has him riding extensively with the chargers of a large cavalry. This is said to be somewhat unusual for the time. (Recall that Merry rides into battle with the riders of Rohan);

ii) in a later key act to prove himself at Arthur’s court, Meriadoc blows a horn at a ford to summon the fearsome Black Knight from his Black Glade (it has black foliage, and black boars), and he defeats the Black Knight when others have failed. (Recall that Merry defeats the black and seemingly un-defeatable Witch King, and later blows the special Horn of the Mark which has a great ‘summoning’ effect on hearers);

iii) and later, to win his knighthood Meriadoc leaves Arthur’s court to become the right-hand man of another king. He then goes with three staunch friends into enemy lands, and during this quest is deeply loyal to them. (Recall that Merry becomes Theoden’s sword-theign. This is not a right-hand man organiser role, yet he is certainly ‘next to the king’ at several points in the story. He is of course also one of a band of four hobbits in the Fellowship, and his friendship with them is very close.).

Thus, a number of striking similarities with The Lord of the Rings.

4. There is also the name Marmaduke to consider, a widely attested personal name in history though now usually only applied to large gingery male cats or enormous Great Dane dogs. As stated above, Tolkien originally considered using the name ‘Marmaduke Brandybuck’ when the early chapters of LoTR were still Hobbit-ish, and the name only later became the Meriadoc Brandybuck we all know.

Sadly the name Marmaduke is of very uncertain derivation, though there are very dubious ‘Celtic’ claims to be found in the baby-name books. A book review by the eminent Roger Sherman Loomis in the journal American Speech (1940) implies that this dubious confabulation was already in circulation by the late 1930s…

Whence came the strange assertion that Meriaduc is an Irish name introduced into Northern England by the Vikings? It is a purely Brythonic name.

We can however be certain of the early English spellings since they occur in documents. For instance, Tutbury in mid Staffordshire had a “Sir Marmaduc” as steward in the 1480s. So we have Marmaduc and Marmaduk in that period and the two centuries before it. This help a bit. It then looks to me like Tolkien was working back along the following chain:

Marmaduke – Marmaduk – Marmaduc – Marma— somehow became Meria— – then across the Channel to get Meriaduc (12th century Brittany). There Meriaduc is a landed lord with a large income, and a key character in the Lais of Marie de France which Tolkien knew well. From there it doesn’t seem such a leap for him to get to Meriadoc, assuming there was a -duc -> -doc historical sound-change.

There was a Marmadoc Brandybuck in Merry’s family-tree in the LoTR Appendices, which Tolkien originally had as ‘Marmaduc’ (Peoples of Middle-earth). Geoffrey of Monmouth had a Gorboduc as a mythical king of Britain, and there was also a Gorbadoc in Merry’s family-tree. Thus it looks to me like Tolkien was ‘ageing’ the names by switching the endings from -duc to -doc.

Indeed, by doing this he was probably also bringing the names back to the Welsh Marches and his beloved Mercia. Since the real Domesday Book reveals a Welsh “King Mariadoc” had been granted lands in Herefordshire on the Welsh Marches, the lands then being held by his (non-king) son Griffin. Pair this doc name with the 5th-6th century name in Saint Meriadoc (Welsh) and the 14th century Arthurian Meriadoc (British), and a switching over of -duc to -doc seems justified.

Hence, it looks to me as if Tolkien’s early choice of the name Marmaduke Brandybuck would have been made on the basis of Marmaduke being a valid modern form of the older name Meriaduc (Meriadoc). Though I admit I can find no philologist text to confirm this, and I’d still like to know the philology on how Marma— evolved from the older Meria—. Possibly the use of French in England after the Conquest has something to do with that, at a guess.

5. There is one more curious use to consider. Centuries after Griffin son of Mariadoc was named in Domesday, the author of the Elizabethan stage play John a Kent had his hero Sir Griffin Merridock (Prince of South Wales) come to England to win a bride. His beloved becomes enchanted by a bad magician, but with the help of a good magician he eventually triumphs… “The Abbey Church of St. Werburgh in Chester is the setting for the final scene, in which [the good magician] Kent’s magical deceptions win Griffin Merridock and Lord Powys their brides.” An interesting story and a remarkable historical reaching-back to Domesday, but I can’t see any plot connection here with Tolkien’s Merry — other than to stretch a point and recall the use of casting a magical ‘glamour’ on people’s eyes i.e. not seeing what is in front of you. Recall that in LoTR Eowyn is in disguise and all the Riders pretend not to see Merry as they ride to Gondor. Disguise and detection are key aspects of John a Kent.