Well that wasn't his original surname. It was actually Goatsbleur but you get caught frenching one worm and you never live it down.

His name was just Gríma, nicknamed worm tongue by those who saw him for what he was

I don't think he'd put the nickname that his enemies use for him on his CV.

At least, that's how I interpreted the name. Similar to the Dung Eater in Elden Ring

As others have said, Wormtongue was more of a nickname given to him by people that didn't like him. Think Ivan the Terrible, Tsar of Russia, or something like that.

In fact, the only people in middle earth who are shown to have surnames are Hobbits and some Men from Bree, where Hobbits and Men live together and is no doubt heavily influenced by Hobbit culture.

Tbf Theoden wasn't exactly himself so he might not remember...

That section of the story always sat weird with me.

I don't recall ever seeing such an obedient community in fiction.

Wow wow wow, talk about prejudicial profiling. This is why HR wants to remove names from applications completely!

I watch the extended editions every year and one thing that still confuses me is how at the start of the Two Towers Theoden has two Simon Peggs, and one of them gets savaged by a Warg on the way to Helm’s Deep; by this point in the battle he seems to have both Simon Peggs again.

What's great is this lesson can be taught to the world as "people with funny sounding names shouldn't be hired" which wow in that context sounds racist.

Never trust a man with shaven eyebrows.

It was partially Theoden's fault for not having more sons as backup heirs! :::drops mic::::