Name of a soldier of Gondor during the War of the Ring (LotR/760), and also the 20th steward of Gondor (LotR/1039). The meaning of this name is unclear. Hammond and Scull suggested that this name might mean “Valiant Stone”, a combination of [N.] beren¹ “bold” and gond “stone”, the latter element perhaps referring to Gondor (RC/521). David Salo suggested the name may instead be derived from derived from ᴹ√BEREK “wild, fierce” (GS/344).

Conceptual Development: In Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s, the soldier of Gondor first appeared as Beren (WR/282), briefly Thalion (WR/385), soon revised to N. Barathil >> Barithil >> Berithil (WR/288) before Tolkien finally settled on Beregond late in the writing (SD/59). The steward of Gondor first appeared as Baragond (PM/220).