Soon after The Lord of the Rings was published, J. R. R. Tolkien received a letter from one Sam Gamgee, asking how Tolkien had decided upon that name. Tolkien replied that he was quite astonished to receive a letter signed "Sam Gamgee" and explained that he recalled "gamgee" from childhood, a gauze tissue invented by a surgeon named Sam Gamgee. Tolkien offered to send signed copies of the three Lord of the Rings books to the real-life Sam Gamgee, who gratefully accepted!