Golfimbul's name is something of a hybrid. In early drafts of The Hobbit, Tolkien borrowed the name Fingolfin for him from the Silmarillion tradition. Meanwhile, the character who would become Thrór was originally known as Fimbulfambi (from the Old Norse for 'great fool'). As the story developed, elements of these names merged together, so Golfimbul inherited the Golf- from 'Fingolfin' and the -fimbul from 'Fimbulfambi', creating a compound name without any specific meaning.