What was the full name of J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of The Hobbit?

The full name of J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of The Hobbit, was John Ronald Reuel Tolkien.

Tolkien was born on 3 January 1892 in Bloemfontein, in what was then the Orange Free State. His first and middle names came from family and baptismal traditions. “Reuel” was a name used by his father, Arthur Reuel Tolkien, and later became an important part of Tolkien’s own identity.

The initials J.R.R. became internationally famous through Tolkien’s books about Middle-earth. He generally used “Ronald” among family and friends, while “John” was his baptismal name. The middle initial “R” therefore represents Ronald, and the second “R” represents Reuel.

Tolkien’s name is sometimes confused with the names of characters or with abbreviated forms such as “J.R.R.” alone. He was also a scholar of languages and medieval literature, not only a novelist, and his academic interests strongly influenced the names and languages in his fiction.