Names of places in Middleearth

[zeeb]

My brother is ship navigator, and on a recent trip across the Atlantic he noticed names from Middleearth on the maps.

Alot of undersea mountain west of Ireland had names from Tolkiens universe: Rohan, Gondor, Fangorn, Eriador, Lorien and others...

Now, the big discussion on the ship is which came first; did Tolkien get his names from a seamap, did the people who named the mountains used Tolkiens idears or are the both from some third source - like Irish mythology etc.

If anyone could help me on this I'd really apriciate it...

Zeeb Stennek

 

[Beleg]

The name of the places and Character's in LOTR are based upon Tolkien's own languages; Sindarin, Quenya, Westron or Rhorric.
So I doubt whether Tolkien borrowed any names from any place.

 

[BlackCaptain]

Yeah... A bunch of Tolkien fans with political power probly did that. I should move to Ireland... or whereever this is...

 

[Lantarion]

I always found Turin a very Tolkienic name.. ALthough I prefer the Italian, Torino. Helps from getting confused.

 

[zeeb]

Thanks for the answers, I hope they'll get the crew off my back