The son of Griffo Boffin and Daisy Baggins, born in the year III 2988 (or 1388 by the Shire-reckoning). Tosto was present with his parents at Bilbo's Farewell Party in III 3001. At that time he would have been just thirteen years old, and was probably among the Hobbit-children who received gifts of astonishing toys.
Tosto was a descendant of Otto the Fat, a patriarch of the Boffin family who had lived some two centuries before the War of the Ring. Tosto traced his descent from Otto's second son Uffo (who was Tosto's great-grandfather), so his family were important among the Boffins, but not on the direct line of the family's headship. As such, they likely lived within the Boffin folkland of the Yale in the Shire's Eastfarthing.
Tosto's mother Daisy Baggins was a close relative of Frodo Baggins (her father Dudo being the younger brother of Frodo's father Drogo, and thus Frodo's uncle). Tosto Boffin was therefore also a close relation to Frodo, formally being his first cousin, once removed.
Notes
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Tolkien's choice of the name Tosto for this Hobbit is not explained, but he was perhaps influenced by the Anglo-Saxon name Tostig (most famously the name of an English earl, the brother of King Harold, who died in 1066). The meaning of the name is far from clear, though in general form it resembles Old English toste meaning 'toad'. That hardly seems a suitable name for an earl of royal blood, though it might conceivably have influenced Tolkien's choice of the name for the Hobbit Tosto Boffin.
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- Updated 15 August 2023
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