E.B. Burgum once wrote in the Kenyon Review (1941): “He who seeks to define Romanticism is entering a hazardous occupation which has claimed many victims”. However there is no denying that sensibility is one of the consensual pointers. And if one seeks to explore Professor Tolkien’s motives behind the unfolding of his Legendarium, there is again no denying that his self-avowed extreme sensitivity to words and languages is not only a pointer but also lies at the root of his entire writing process. Such visceral fascination for the beauty and musicality of words can be found in the etymology and symbolism of personal and place names throughout Middle-earth. As a contribution to the study of romanticism in Tolkien’s works, this paper examines the possible characteristics of this complex movement that find an echo in the author’s onomastic sub-creation and the latter’s subsequent relation to the characters, places and objects in Middle-earth.