Hlothram

The name of a Hobbit born in the Shire in the year III 2860 (1260 by the Shire-reckoning). His name came from a word in the Shire for a 'cottager', or more precisely a word for a Hobbit who dwelt in a hloth, a two-roomed home or Hobbit-hole. Tolkien anglicised this original Hobbit-name, and so in the genealogies of the Shire-hobbits he is recorded as Cotman.

Hlothram had a son, Holman, who took his father's name as a patronymic, but one that evolved into Hlothran. To the Hobbits, this name described a village of small hloth dwellings, and so Tolkien's anglicised form was Cotton (from, essentially, 'cottage town'). Holman and his descendants are therefore recorded with the family name of Cotton. Among these was Tolman Cotton, grandson of Cotman, who played an important role in rallying the Shire during the War of the Ring. Tolman's daughter Rose married Samwise Gamgee and gave rise to the important Fairbairn and Gardner families.