Bracegirdle family

An important and populous family of Shire-hobbits, associated with the town or village of Hardbottle. The most famous of them was Lobelia Bracegirdle, who married Otho Sackville-Baggins.

Genealogy

           Blanco Bracegirdle = Primrose Boffin
                              |     b. 1265
               _______________|________________
              |                                |
              |                                |
      Bruno Bracegirdle                     Lobelia  =  Otho Sackville-Baggins
          1313-1410                        1318-1420 |        1310-1412
        ______|______                                |
       |             |                               |
Hugo Bracegirdle   Hilda  =  Seredic Brandybuck    Lotho Sackville-Baggins
    b. 1350       b. 1354 |       b. 1348               1364-1419
                 _________|_________
                |         |         |
             Doderic   Ilberic  Celandine
             b. 1389   b. 1391   b.1394

Etymology

The Hobbitish name referred to their tendency to be fat and so to strain their belts, meaning "Tight-belt", or "Belt-tightener / strainer / stretcher".

Inspiration

Bracegirdle is a real-life English surname. Tolkien had noted that it followed the type of Romance compounds with the verbal element first (instead of *"Girdlebracer")