RPGMemes

I don't know if Tolkien's notes support this, but I always assumed that Treebeard's Entish name was something completely unpronounceable for anyone who isn't an ent, and "Treebeard" was a nickname that he picked for himself. Maybe because he finds it funny that other species think he looks like a tree. (I'm sure that ents look clearly different from trees to other ents.)

Edit: he says so himself.

Hrum, now, well, I am an Ent, or that's what they call me. Yes, Ent is the word. The Ent, I am, you might say, in your manner of speaking. Fangorn is my name according to some, Treebeard others make it. Treebeard will do.

Makes sense. The biggest strength of robust worldbuilding isn't showing it all to your audience, it's hinting at small pieces of it that shows a connection between them and hints at something deeper. Having what feels like a detailed history makes the world feel real, because you can see shadows of it in the foreground. If you actually dig into all of it explicitly in your story that just makes it feel shallow, because you're showing the whole iceberg.

It's why the mystery of the clone wars and Anakin's apprenticeship and betrayal of Obi-wan were intriguing in the original Star Wars trilogy, but end up just being some action movies once it's all fleshed out on screen. Depth stops being depth if you bring it all up to the surface.

"Treebeard some call me" - it's a nickname

Guy who walks around the forest: Strider.

…in service of his fantasy epic.

This is wrong. The the histories, cultures, etc. were in service of the conlangs. Sure, he eventually wrote some stories set in that world, but that wasn't the reason he created it.

It keeps blowing my mind when I learn that other languages haven't obfuscated the meanings of names behind two thousand years of linguistic divergence.

Your name almost certainly means something basic too, you just don't remember what it is.

Seriously, like Gandalf just means magic elf. So he's just the magic elf that wears grey. Then he's the magic elf that wears white.

Names are just that, things we observe, want or expect.

Overt bad guy: Sauron

Secret bad guy: Saurumon

Hello, my name is Personface

Sure... but Tolkien could tell you Treebeard's name in hall a dozen languages he'd made up for his setting (or for fun, before the setting was a thing), including full etymologies.

It's kinda funny with anime and manga. They use Japanese names for a bunch of stuff like special martial arts techniques or special moves. Not knowing Japanese, the names sound cool and mysterious.

Learning the actual translations, Treebeard is pretty par for the course.

Like from Naruto, Sasuke uses the Copy Wheel Eye (sharingan), Hinyata uses the White Eye (byakugon), and Naruto's big move is Spiral Sphere (rasengan). Copy Wheel Eye's upgraded version is called Kalidoscope Copy Wheel Eye.

They aren't horrible names, but they feel less cool.

Though it would be funny if Saitama has special moves that are just other languages saying "normal punch" or "serious punch". "Hip bump with moderate vigor" or something.

Edit: fixed spelling of byakugon

He also nearly named Celeborn Teleporno, which would have been ~~awful~~ amazing.

No. he just translated it into treebeard for localization for English speakers. educate yourself.

Mount DOOM has entered the chat

Also, Shire just means Farm.

To be fair, sounds a bit weird when you speak his name in portuguese...

Maybe that's why Tolkien wrote a ton of books while most of us get stuck in the character creation screen of Baldur's Gate 3 choosing a name for 7 hours.

It's me, I'm people

In a world where a guy named Big Balls has had control over federal budget allocations, I can accept this.