The two Hobbits who founded the Shire, Marcho and his brother Blanco, each have a name that means 'horse'. Tolkien chose the names to mirror those of Hengest and Horsa, legendary figures who led the Anglo-Saxons into Britain in the fifth century, and whose names also each mean 'horse'.
The Old English mearh that lies behind Marcho's name is the source of the modern English word 'mare', and can be seen in various forms throughout Tolkien's works. The noble mearas of Rohan had a name that derived from the same source, and at least two leaders of the Northmen (Marhari and Marhwini) had names incorporating marh-, which belongs to the same etymological line of descent.
Of course, Old English did not exist in the world of Middle-earth, and the names Marcho and Blanco are modernised forms representing these Hobbits' unrecorded 'true' names. Given the association with horses, we might imagine that those original names carried a similar connection (though presumably not in the sense of 'steed' or 'riding horse', as Marcho implies, because it was very rare indeed for a Hobbit to be able to ride a horse).
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