Wilcome ‘Jolly’ Cotton

III 2984 was also the year of the birth of Wilcome's sister Rose (who would later marry Samwise Gamgee), which raises the strong possibility that Rose and Wilcome were twins. This isn't necessarily the case (Rose might have been born very early in the year, and Wilcome very late), but it does seem the most parsimonious explanation for their shared birth year.

Wilcome shared a name with, and was presumably named for, his uncle, the brother of his father Tolman Cotton. The origins of the name are not explained, but as a real English name, 'Wilcome' would usually mean 'willow valley'. This implies that it originated as a place-name, suggesting that somewhere in the history of the Cottons was an ancestor who lived in a willow valley, or perhaps even in a place literally called 'Wilcome'.

No place named 'Wilcome' is recorded within the Shire, but it is perhaps relevant that there was a place called Willowbottom (which, like 'Wilcome', means 'willow valley'). It might even be conceivable that this was where the first use of the name 'Wilcome' originated among the ancestors of the Cottons.