Middle Earth Ranger Forum

OK, the land is bought and paid for, the old house is itching to be redone, inside and out, as a fantasy medieval inn. Now, what shall I call it?

I was going to go for something recognizeably Middle-earth, but have second thoughts for two reasons:

I don't want to get in a fight with the Saul Zaentz' zombie's lawyers. Even if I used a name that is completely in the public domain (such as the fact that "Middle-earth" is Tolkien's particular usage; "Middle Earth" is just a part of Norse mythology), I just don't want to have to focus energy on that.

I'd like to have the inn available to LARPers, fans of "Dungeons & Dragons," "Game of Thrones," etc. , etc. , and don't want to lock myself into a Middle-earth only setting.

So, any bright ideas for naming a fantasy medieval inn?

The Forsaken Inn.

Deliberately Tolkien, deliberately NOT in the films, and perfectly acceptable to a wide range of groups.

Greg wrote:The Forsaken Inn.

Deliberately Tolkien, deliberately NOT in the films, and perfectly acceptable to a wide range of groups.

I like it, but I wonder if it's copyrighted.

In homage to Tolkien, "The Bird and the Baby". It was the nickname of the pub that he and Lewis would meet in while they were writing.
The Eagle and Child was the real name.

The Home and Hearth Inn

The Kings Road Inn

Journey's End Inn

wulfgar wrote:In homage to Tolkien, "The Bird and the Baby". It was the nickname of the pub that he and Lewis would meet in while they were writing.
The Eagle and Child was the real name.

Also the name of the largest and only mentioned Inn in Micheal Delving.

I had an Inn back in my MERP days called the Inn of the Dancing Bear, it was owned by a big surly ex soldier who was very "bear-like" and was always kept hopping by the many patrons of the inn. We started out every adventure there as a kind of a "Home base" I had the whole place staffed and decorated down to the details of the menu. Good memories, you are welcome to it if it tickles your fancy.

Ringulf wrote:Also the name of the largest and only mentioned Inn in Micheal Delving.

Not quite. While its name is certainly a reference to the real-life Eagle and Child, the 'Bird and Baby' does not occur in Tolkien's works--it is pure tertiary-source, LOTRO fantasy.

To review, the named or known inns of the Shire are as follows:

the Bridge Inn (On the East Road on the West Bank of the Brandywine--BkVI Ch8 Scouring of the Shire)
Green Dragon (in Bywater--BkI Ch2 Shadow of the Past)
Ivy Bush ('on the Bywater road'--BkI Ch3 Three is Company)
The Floating Log (in Frogmorton--BkVI Ch8 Scouring of the Shire)
The Golden Perch (at Stock--Bk1 Ch4 Shortcut to Mushrooms)
unnamed Rushey(sic) inn (ATB--Bombadil Goes Boating)

I'm not at all familiar with Tolkien's copyright laws, but all of the above appear or are mentioned in the Professor's works, and so are likely to be off-limits to unlicensed use.
HOWEVER, there is one inn of the Shire that does not appear in a published work by Tolkien.
Located on the East Road west of Frogmorton, the ALL-WELCOME INN was included in Thorin&Co.'s proposed itinerary as part of Tolkien's 1960 retool of The Hobbit. (John D Rateliff, History of the Hobbit Vol 2, 815).
As the inn is found only in Tolkien's unpublished drafts/notes, and published only in a secondary source, I think it would be a safer bet for usage. Also, the name is perfect for your purposes, Straelbora.

These aren't really anything in particular, just a few things I thought up that sounded cool:

The Lost Arrow Inn
The Weary Rider Inn
The Dusty Wanderer Inn
The Ranger's Escape

OOOOH, NAMING THINGS!!! How exciting!

I love coming up with names for this kind of thing! Personally, I think the Golden Perch is a beautiful name for an in; shame it's probably copyrighted. I really love the "All-Welcome Inn," or you could even alter it just a bit to the "All's Welcome Inn," which I feel has a nice quaintly-rustic-grammatically-incorrect sound to it, haha.

Some other thoughts:

The White Stag (the name an inn inn a story I'm writing)
The White Hart (the inspiration for said name, and a very popular name for inns and pubs in England, with a long, rich history)
The White Tree
The Seven Stars
The Good Steward
The Steward's Inn
The King's Inn
The Elven/elfin King Inn
The Elven/elfin Tree
The Wander Inn (yay puns?)
The Rowan Tree
The Old Oak
The Thrush and Thistle
The Thrush
The Hammer and Anvil
The Easterling's Head (inspired by the real-world Saracen's Head Inn, but possibly copyrighted because of the word Easterling?)

And those are just a few off the top, haha

I forgot one of the most famous inns in cinema "The Slaughtered Lamb" . Okay who knows what movie it's from.

The Inn at Everon Road.
A little word play on one of Pete's suggestions.

Or, if you wanna get a little Zelazny, name it Bloody Bob's and change the name "Bob" to something else once a year....

The One Inn

The Raptor's Rest

For Zelazny lovers:

The Inn in Shadow (or Shadows)
Corwin's Retreat (you can substitute any of the 8 other princes or 4 princess's names plus Oberon, Merlin and Martin) I think
The Random Retreat would be the most interesting play on the names

Peter Remling wrote:I forgot one of the most famous inns in cinema "The Slaughtered Lamb" . Okay who knows what movie it's from.

Stay off the moors.

Straelbora wrote:

Peter Remling wrote:I forgot one of the most famous inns in cinema "The Slaughtered Lamb" . Okay who knows what movie it's from.

Stay off the moors.

Stick to the road !

The Gray Haven