The various translations of Bilbo Baggins

I posted a couple of days ago about Frodo and Gandalf apparently being of Norse descent. In the post, I asked folks if they knew why in the German version of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Bilbo’s last name was changed to Beutlin. Amidst the comments (and a bit of further searching on my part), I came up with the answer. Apparently, the last name is translated based on the German word for bag, Beutel. Furthermore, this translation ‘tactic’ has been used in just about all of the translations of Lord of the Rings. From the Wikipedia page for Bilbo Baggins:

• In the Slovak he is called Bilbo Bublik
• In the Czech it is Bilbo Pytlík (pytlík = small bag)
• In the Danish translation he is called Bilbo Sækker (sæk = bag)
• In the Estonian translation he is called Bilbo Paunaste (paun = bag)
• In the German translation he is called Bilbo Beutlin (created from Beutel=bag).
• In the French translation he is called Bilbo (or Bilbon) Sacquet (sac = bag).
• In the Norwegian translation he is called Bilbo Lommelun.
• In the Finnish translation he is called Bilbo Reppuli. (reppu = backpack)
• In the Dutch version he is called Bilbo Balings. (baal = bag)

I know very little (nothing, actually!) about professional translation, but this really struck me as a bit odd. I thought that in translations of books, they generally didn’t translate personal names like that. For example, Harry Potter in German isn’t Harry Töpfer, is he?

Kristin said in the comments of my first post:

All names in LotR and the Hobbit are translated because they are made to give specific meanings which would be lost if you didn’t translate them.

That mostly makes sense to me. I can certainly understand translating Bag End, for example, or names of places that have real English words in them, like the Falls of Rauros. However, I just find it a bit odd translating a made-up name, based on the root English word within the name.

While writing this post, I remembered that I have a copy of The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. I’ve not dug through the index in full yet, but in looking up Baggins in the index, I came across a letter concerning the Polish translation of The Lord of the Rings. From page 299 of the book, letter 217:

I am sorry that owing to domestic troubles and turmoil I have neglected Mrs. Skibniewska’s letter.

It is quite impossible for me to write a lot of notes for her use. . . . As a general principle for her guidance, my preference is for as little translation or alteration of any names as possible. As she perceives, this is an English book and its Englishry should not be eradicated. That the Hobbits actually spoke an ancient language of their own is of course a pseudo-historical assertion made necessary by the nature of the narrative. I could provide or invent the original Hobbit language form of all the names that appear in English, like Baggins or Shire, but this would be quite pointless. My own view is that the names of persons should all be left as they stand. I should prefer that the names of places were left ountouched also, including Shire. The proper way of treating these I think is for a list of those that have a meaning in English to be given at the end, with glosses or explanations in Polish.

Based on that, it looks like he didn’t have the final say in the translated versions of his books.  Hmm.. I’ve not seen the German version of the Lord of the Rings movies. Anyone know if they say Bilbo Baggins or Bilbo Beutlin?