A family of the Shire, of which only a single member - Widow Rumble - is known. Being a widow, even she was not originally part of the family, but evidently married into it, which suggests that at least some of its members lived in the Hobbiton area. The Rumbles and the Gamgees were apparently acquainted, or at least there was a close relationship between Sam's father Hamfast and Widow Rumble, who looked after the Gaffer in his later years.
Notes
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We're not actually told where in the Shire the Rumbles lived. Widow Rumble, at least, seems to have been a regular visitor to Hamfast Gamgee on Bagshot Row, which strongly implies that she was a fellow resident of Hobbiton, and quite possibly a neighbour of the Gamgees. Whether her family in general could be associated with Hobbiton is a more difficult question, and it is of course possible that they originated in some other part of the Shire.
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We're explicitly told that the name 'Rumble' held no particular meaning to the Hobbits of the Shire. The name does exist as a real English surname with various different origins. If any of these could be transposed to the Shire, it would probably be a variation on Rumbold, from the Old English for a large farm field. If the Shire-hobbits had ever made such connection, though, they had evidently forgotten about it by the closing years of the Third Age.
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- Updated 7 June 2020
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