The hobbits are definitely a different folk from the rest of Middle-earth's peoples - never concerned with battles, or riches, or territory. They smoke pipeweed, eat umpteen times a day, all live together in the same vicinity, and even take kindly to most strangers, being the peaceful and hospitable folk they are. It's just another marked difference between the ways of the Shire and the ways of the world outside. Living together in the Shire might be another reason - because so many of them around, first names are probably repeated a lot, thus the need for more than one name for identification purposes.
[ November 14, 2002: Message edited by: Legalos ]
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