# Kili



## SKYLAH OAKENSHIELD (Mar 17, 2015)

I have been torturing myself trying to figure out what Kili's last name is. I used to think it was Oakenshield-hence my name- but I realised that is not right. I have eventually discovered that Tolkien never gave him one. My conclusion is that either his last name is Durin (because he is of the line of Durin) or that I must make one up, relating to his feats. I believe that Arrowhunter might work. Any other ideas?


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## SKYLAH OAKENSHIELD (Mar 18, 2015)

If you choose one of the "other" options, could you please say what it is. Otherwise I don't know how it will help. Thanks!


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## Starbrow (Mar 19, 2015)

The dwarves didn't have last names. Oakenshield is a nickname given to Thorin after he used a oak branch as a shield when his own was destroyed. If you want to keep true to Tolkien, I would just use Kili by itself.


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## Matthew Bailey01 (Mar 21, 2015)

Tolkien mentions that dwarves used a public name and that they also have a private name, in Khuzdûl, which is used only among other Dwarves.

Their public name contains only an identifier (the name itself) and possibly a descriptor (such as Ironfoot, Oakenshield, Stonehelm, the Deathless, etc.)

Surnames, and how they came into existence is complicated in the Saxon, and Nordic worlds that are a template for Middle-earth (excepting The Shire, which is a purely anachronistic interface between the reader and the ancient world of Middle-earth - see Tom Shippey's "The Road to Middle-earth"

BTW....

Glad to see there are others who think about these sorts of questions.

MRB


I obviously take Middle-earth too seriously!


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## SKYLAH OAKENSHIELD (Mar 21, 2015)

Matthew Bailey01 said:


> [\QUOTE]
> 
> Thanks! I am not very good when it comes to these sorts of things. It is also annoying me that Tolkien never really gives Kili a father.


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## SKYLAH OAKENSHIELD (Mar 21, 2015)

Sorry, I don't know what happened there.


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## Skyla_Mae_03 (Dec 27, 2016)

His last name would be that of his fathers and mothers. His mother, Lady Dis, was an Oakenshield, but she married, so her name changed. Tolkien never specified what that name was. So we shouldn't make anything up or call him Oakenshield or Arrowhunter.


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