"William C. Keel" wrote in news:4130c27e$1
@news.ua.edu:

In sci.space.history dave schneider wrote:
(Ron) wrote many fine things, including:
[...]
Sep 06 - Asteroid 2991 Bilbo Closest Approach To Earth (1.000 AU)
[...]

Bagginses agains. Pfui.

Clear favoritism. Quick perusal of thee asteroid name list turns up
not a single Frodo, Samwise, Gollum, Aragorn, or Gimli. At most
that guy Tolkien. At least we don't yet have a Sauron or Morgoth (not
even Melkor) hanging over our heads. Now. if one of the ones I
occasionally come across were still unnamed... I don't know of
any rules requiring that the mythological names be of actually ancient
origin.

There doesn't appear to be any rules at all for asteroids. All you have to
do is have pull with the IAU and you can get an asteroid named pretty much
anything.

More than 8,000 asteroids have been named to date. Asteroids receive a
provisional designation––such as 1989 UL5 in the case of asteroid
Urey––after being spotted by the same observer over two nights within a
week. After an accurate orbit for the object is calculated, the discoverer
chooses a name, which must be approved by the International Astronomical
Union. The IAU is the only organization that has international authority to
name astronomical bodies and features on them.