Meriadoc Brandybuck to be an actual phonetic transcription of the name in Tolkien's invented language of Westron, which Tolkien said he transliterated to English as follows: The nickname "Merry" represents his actual nickname "Kali" which meant "handsome, happy", and "Meriadoc" serves as a plausible name from which a nickname meaning "happy" could be derived. Alternately, "The Middle-Earth Encyclopedia" writes that Meriadoc means "joyful" or "cheerful," while Merry means "having high spirits." Théoden called Merry "Holdwine", and the Hobbit was thus known as such in the records of Rohan. It most probably derives from the Old English words "hold" and "wine", respectively meaning
Brandybuck Clan stated to be a rendering of the original Westron (Common Speech) Brandagamba, "Marchbuck". In keeping with the conceit that "The Lord of the Rings" was derived from the translated Red Book of Westmarch, Tolkien claimed to have translated all its Westron words into English — including the names of characters. While "Marchbuck" ("march" bearing its archaic meaning of "border") is the exact representation of "Brandagamba", Tolkien rendered it "Brandybuck" to preserve the name's similarity with the River "Branda-nîn" ("Baranduin" in Sindarin), which Tolkien then rendered "Brandywine" in English to reflect an alternate name, "Bralda-hîm", meaning "heady ale", referring to the