Questions about the name generator
 

A. What's a Shirriff?

B. How does the name generator work?

1-A Shirrif is kinda like a police officer for the Shire, isn't it? He keeps the boundaries right so that no men can pass though, without their general decree.

As a answer on your question B. I guess your meaning the name generator here at Barrow Downs.
It works like this:
*First you write down your name!
*Then you press some big button below. ( I dont remember what it says)
*After that you got a list of your names that you do probably got if you were a elf, hobbit, dwarf or a orc.

(as Elvish names) the generator just puts random words together and sticks a feminine/masculine suffix on it. It has nothing to do with the meaning of your *real* name. Though it is fun to look up the meanings of the parts and find out what they mean.

Ex:

Arnorvanwen-

Arnor: Arnor, "land of the kings"
Van: vana, "beauty"
wen: (outdated) "maiden" suffix

Ta-da! Beauty from the Land of the Kings.

And so it goes...

-'Vana

Just to elaborate on Inderjit's answer to your first question, the Shirrifs were the police-type officers in the Shire. Of course, their services were not direly needed until ROTK. The Shirrifs wore little feathers in their hats.

[img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

ya... there were about 5-8 shirrifs until Sharky came along... [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img]

Thanks [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Some times you get names that really have nothing to do with you at all. I think I got something about me being blonde once and I have brown hair. I guess its best not to look them up.