The seventh child, and fourth son, of Samwise Gamgee and Rose Cotton. He was the only one of Sam Gamgee's children to be named after one of Sam's own family: the name Hamfast came from Sam's father, who was also known as Gaffer Gamgee. This elder Hamfast had died just four years before the younger Hamfast was born, and the loss of his father presumably influenced Samwise's choice of this name for his son.
Perhaps curiously, Sam and Rose did not name a son for Sam's father immediately after his death. Hamfast the Gaffer died in Shire-year 1428, and Sam and Rose had a son in the following year. However, they chose to name this son Pippin rather than Hamfast, perhaps wanting to fulfil the prediction of their children that Frodo Baggins had made before his departure.1 Their next child was a daughter, Goldilocks, and so it was no less than four years after the elder Hamfast's death that his young namesake was born.
Notes
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On the ride to the Grey Havens, a foresight came on Frodo, and he gave Sam the names of some of his children to come. After Elanor (who had already been born), then 'Frodo-lad will come, and Rosie-lass, and Merry, and Goldilocks, and Pippin; and perhaps more that I cannot see' (The Return of the King VI 9, The Grey Havens). Frodo wasn't quite right (Goldilocks and Pippin were born in the opposite order to that which he foresaw), but if Sam had named his third son 'Hamfast' it would have broken the prediction entirely. (In the event, there were indeed many more children that Frodo could not see: seven more in all, of whom Hamfast was the first.)
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- Updated 31 March 2023
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