What is the name of the region where the hobbits live?

The region where the hobbits live is called the Shire. It is a peaceful, predominantly hobbit-inhabited land in the northwest of Middle-earth, within the larger region of Eriador. The Shire includes familiar communities such as Hobbiton, Bywater, and Michel Delving, as well as the eastern district of Buckland.

Tolkien presents the Shire as an agricultural society of villages, farms, gardens, inns, and family homesteads. Its people are largely insulated from the wars and politics of the wider world, which helps explain why many hobbits initially treat the Ring’s danger as distant or unbelievable. Frodo, Bilbo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin all have strong ties to the Shire.

The Shire is not the same as Middle-earth itself: it is one region within that continent. Mordor, Gondor, and Rohan are much larger lands elsewhere, each central to the War of the Ring. After returning from the quest, the hobbits discover that even their sheltered homeland has been affected by the conflict.