In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, the Elves are one of the races of Arda. They Appear in The Hobbit and in The Lord of the Rings, but their complex history is described in full only in The Silmarillion, edited and published after Tolkien's death. More details AbOUT them are given in the author's other writings edited and published since then, such as Unfinished Tales and The History of Middle-earth. The History of Middle-earth also reveals their textual and conceptual history, as Tolkien had been writing about Elves long before The Hobbit was published.

The following is an alphabetically ordered list of Elves that are mentioned by name in Tolkien's works. This list excludes the Half-elven such as Elrond and Arwen.

Tolkien devised several names (s. essë) for many of his Elves, most having some meanings in his Elvish languages Quenya and Sindarin. In brief, there are four types of Elven names, distinguished by the giver:

  • "father-name" (ataressë), given by the father
  • "mother-name" (amilessë), given by the mother
  • "after-name" (epessë), given by others later in life
  • "self-name" (kilmessë), given by oneself

In applicable cases, these alternate names are mentioned after the most significant or common ones they have in Tolkien's writings, as are variant, superseded names in writings which belong to earlier phases in the development of the stories.

In the case of Elves appearing only in superseded writings, like Legolas of Gondolin (distinct from Legolas of Mirkwood), they are marked with an asterisk (*).

A

  • Aegnor

Aegnor was a Noldorin Elf, a son of Finarfin and lord of the Noldor.
Aegnor was the elder brother of Galadriel and younger brother of Finrod Felagund and Angrod; together with them joined the Exile of the Noldor from Valinor. Aegnor was "renowned as one of the most valiant of the warriors...; in wrath or battle the light of his eyes was like flame [which gave rise to his 'prophetic' mother-name], though otherwise he was a generous and noble spirit".
Later in Beleriand he was a vassal of Finrod and together with Angrod held the highlands of Dorthonion against Morgoth, but both were slain in the Dagor Bragollach.
Aegnor never married. He was in love with the human Andreth, but because it was wartime did not make his intentions towards her clear, and was killed soon after.
The name Aegnor (), is a Sindarized form of his Quenya mother-name Aikanáro or Aikanár (), meaning "Fell-fire", apparently given with regards to his character. His father-name was Ambaráto (in Telerin Quenya), meaning "High Noble".
In earlier versions of Tolkien's legendarium (cf. The History of Middle-earth), the character's name was Egnor. In some of the earliest stories (cf. The Book of Lost Tales), this was the name of the father of Beren (who then was a Noldorin Elf, not a Man as in later writings). It is unlikely that this earlier Egnor was the same character.
The name Aegnor was assigned to the movie-only character Figwit for the trading card game.

  • Amarië

Amarië was a Vanyarin Elf who was in love with Finrod Felagund, and he with her. She did not follow him to Middle-earth. Finrod never married anyone else while in Middle-earth. It is noted in The Lay of Leithian that Finrod was soon allowed to return to life in Valinor, and "now dwells with Amarië", so they probably were wed later.

  • Amdír

Amdír was an Elven king during the Second Age. He only appears in Unfinished Tales, a posthumously published collection of writings edited by Tolkien's son Christopher. He was conceived as a Sindarin Elf from Doriath who left east into Eriador after the War of Wrath. He took over the realm of Lórinand (later called Lothlórien) from Silvan Elves who had had no lords before, south of where Oropher (father of Thranduil the Elvenking of The Hobbit and grandfather of Legolas of The Lord of the Rings) established a realm among the Silvan Elves of Mirkwood.
Tolkien wrote that Amdír was killed in the War of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men in , during the Battle of Dagorlad. He and his troops were cut off from their allies into marshland, where more than half of them, including the King, were lost. The area later became known as the Dead Marshes. After his death his son Amroth became King of Lórinand.
In another version of the events, Tolkien called the character Malgalad.

  • Amras

Amras was the twin brother of Amrod, son of Fëanor and Nerdanel. Together they were the youngest of seven children, all male. Amras followed his father and his brothers to Middle-earth to war against the Dark Lord Morgoth, against the wishes of the their guardians, the angelic, even godlike Valar.
Amras' father-name in Quenya is Telufinwë, "Last Finwë" (after his grandfather Finwë; also he was the youngest and last son). His mother-name was originally Ambarussa "top-russet", referring to his red hair (most of Tolkien's named Elves have dark hair). He shared this name with Amrod. Later Nerdanel later called him Umbarto, "the Fated". His father, disturbed by it, changed it to Ambarto. Nevertheless, both twins called each other Ambarussa.

  • Amrod

Amrod was the twin brother of Amras son of Fëanor and Nerdanel. Amras followed his father and his brothers on their venture to Middle-earth.
Amrod's father-name in Quenya is Pityafinwë, "Little Finwë". His mother-name is Ambarussa, as was Amras's originally.

  • Amroth

Amroth, son of Amdír, was a Sindarin Elf who succeeded his father as Lord of Lórien. He grew tired of Middle-earth and journeyed south to Edhellond, an old haven of his people, together with Nimrodel, his beloved.
However, Nimrodel was lost in the Ered Nimrais, and Amroth delayed his departure to Valinor. As he finally set sail, he thought he saw Nimrodel on the quays, and he jumped overboard to swim back to her. He drowned in the Bay of Belfalas and never returned home.
Dol Amroth in southern Gondor is named for him, as are several places in Lórien.
In earlier versions of the legendarium, Amroth was briefly Galadriel and Celeborn's son, brother to Celebrían, but this idea was dropped.

  • Angrod

Angrod () was a son of Finarfin and lord of the Noldor.
Angrod was the elder brother of Galadriel and Aegnor, and the younger brother of Finrod Felagund. He joined the Exile of the Noldor to Middle-earth, where together with Aegnor he held the highlands of Dorthonion against Morgoth. Aegnor and Angrod were both killed in the Dagor Bragollach.
His wife was an Elven lady named Eldalótë. His son was Orodreth, who escaped to Nargothrond when his father was slain. Angrod was thus the grandfather of Gil-galad, Orodreth's son.
His name was a Sindarized form of his Telerin Quenya name Angaráto , which means "Iron-noble". This is a reference to his hands of great strength and an early received epessë Angamaitë 'iron-handed'.
In the published The Silmarillion, Orodreth is given as Angrod's brother instead, following non-final versions of the story. This was an editorial decision by Christopher Tolkien which he admitted as a mistake.

  • Aredhel

Aredhel is the daughter of Fingolfin and Anairë, sister of Fingon, Turgon and Argon, and mother of Maeglin.