In Chris' own words:

  It started because I needed to get DSL at my little California 
apartment for my job. That was during the tech boom.
  Just after the DSL was installed, I realized I could buy my first and last 
name as a domain name and map it to the computer here in my apartment. Which 
seemed too convenient to be true, but I was pleasantly surprised. 
  One afternoon, I thought up something fun. This. Except I started making up
the hobbit names.
  Then Jane said I should use, um, real names.
  Really! So she compiled names from the Lord of The Rings appendices. I then 
placed a link to this page from my weblog.
  And half a million page views and counting later, here we are.