Westron to have been "Kalimac Brandagamba", short "Kali" (meaning jolly, merry). 'Meriadoc', short 'Merry', is designed to maintain the reference to merriness contained in the original name. Likewise Peregrin Took's actual name was "Razanur Tûc", short "Razar" (name of a small apple). 'Peregrin', short 'Pippin' contained both the actual meaning of the full name (traveller, stranger) and the reference to an apple. Sam Gamgee (shortened from Samwise Gammidgy) was actually named "Ban Galpsi", short for "Banazîr Galbasi". The ending of the 'true' Hobbit name Bilbo was also changed: in Westron it was "Bilba", but Tolkien changed this to "-o" because "-a"
Samwise Gamgee Gamgee, who had heard that his name was in "The Lord of the Rings" but had not read the book. Tolkien replied on March 18: "Dear Mr. Gamgee, It was very kind of you to write. You can imagine my astonishment when I saw your signature! I can only say, for your comfort, I hope, that the 'Sam Gamgee' of my story is a most heroic character, now widely beloved by many readers, even though his origins are rustic. So that perhaps you will not be displeased at the coincidence of the name of this imaginary character of supposedly many