Michel's son Christianus Tolkien (1663–1746) was a wealthy miller in Kreuzburg. Tolkien starts with Michel Tolkien, born around 1620 in Kreuzburg. The Tolkien family originated in the East Prussian town Kreuzburg near Königsberg, where the Tolkien name is attested since the 16th century. Tolkien's own knowledge of the family history was limited to its 18th-century German origin, according to Derdziński in part because he was 'early isolated from the family of his prematurely deceased father.' Family origins Tolkien, live in northern Germany, but most of them are descendants of recent refugees from East Prussia who fled the Red Army invasion (1945).

Several people with the surname Tolkien or similar spelling, some of them members of the same family as J. Tolkien suggested the name was derived from the German adjective tollkühn, meaning foolhardy. A number of other theories on the meaning of the name have been proposed, including that it is derived from the village of Tolkynen in East Prussia. Tolkien, Oxford academic and author of the fantasy books The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.Īccording to Ryszard Derdziński the Tolkien name is of Low Prussian origin and probably means 'son/descendant of Tolk', with Tolk meaning interpreter or negotiator and originating as a nickname. The Tolkien family is an English family of German descent whose best-known member is J.

Carpenter tolkien