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How the Planets and Satellites Got Their Names
MERCURY
Named for the winged Roman god of travel
because it appears to move so swiftly.
VENUS
Roman name for the goddess of love. This
planet was considered to be the brightest
and most beautiful planet or star in the
heavens.
EARTH
The name Earth comes from the IndoEuropean base 'er,' which produced the
Germanic noun 'ertho,' and ultimately
German 'erde,' Dutch 'aarde,' Danish and Swedish 'jord,' and English 'earth.' Related forms include
Greek 'eraze,' meaning 'on the ground,' and Welsh 'erw,' meaning 'field.'
THE MOON: Every civilization has had a name for the satellite of Earth that is known, in
English, as the Moon. The name is of Anglo-Saxon derivation.
MARS
Named by the Romans for their god of war because of its red, bloodlike color. Other civilizations also
named this planet from this attribute; for example, the Egyptians named it “Her Desher,” meaning “the
red one.”
SATELLITES: Phobos (named for one of the horses that drew Mars'
chariot); Deimos (named for one of Mars' companions).
JUPITER
The largest and most massive of the planets was named Zeus by the Greeks and Jupiter by the
Romans; he was the most important deity in both pantheons. Jupiter's satellites are named after
mythological characters who have some relationship to Zeus.
SATELLITES: Metis (first wife of Zeus); Adrastea (a nymph of Crete to whose care Zeus's
mother entrusted the infant Zeus); Amalthea (a goat in some accounts, a princess of Crete in
others, she suckled Zeus as a young child);Thebe (a nymph abducted by Zeus); Io (she was
changed by Zeus into a cow to protect her from his jealous wife);Europa (she was seduced by
Jupiter); Ganymede (beautiful young boy who became the cupbearer of the Olympian
gods); Callisto (she was seduced by Zeus, who changed her into a bear to protect her from
his wife's jealousy);Leda (seduced by Zeus in the form of a swan); Himalia (nymph who bore
three sons of Zeus); Lysithia (one of Zeus' many lovers); Elara (a paramour of
Zeus); Ananke (daughter of Zeus and Adrastea, goddess of fate and
necessity); Carme (mother, by Zeus, of Britomartis), etc.
SATURN
Saturn was the Roman name for the Greek Cronos, god of farming and the father of Zeus/Jupiter.
Some of its satellites were named for Titans who, according to Greek mythology, were brothers and
sisters of Saturn. The newest satellites were named for Gallic (Gaul, or ancient France), Norse, and
Inuit (Eskimo) giants.
SATELLITES: Pan (the half-human, half-goat god of pastoralism); Atlas (a Titan who held the
heavens on his shoulders); Prometheus (a Titan who gave many gifts to humanity)
Pandora (a woman who opened the box that loosed a host of plagues upon
humanity); Janus (a two-faced Roman god who could look forward and backward at the same
time), etc.
URANUS
Uranus was named for the Greek god of the sky. The astronmer William Lassell, who discovered two
of Uranus' satellites in 1851, started the tradition of naming all of the planet's satellites for characters
in the work of William Shakepseare and Alexander Pope.
NEPTUNE
Neptune, a blue planet, was named for the Roman god of the sea.
SATELLITES: Naiad (a group of Greek water nymphs who were guardians of lakes, fountains,
springs and rivers);Thalassa (Greek sea goddess); Despina (daughter of
Neptune); Galatea (one of the attendants of Neptune); Larissa(a lover of
Neptune); Proteus (a Greek sea god); Triton (the sea-god son of Poseidon/Neptune), etc.
PLUTO
Pluto, the outermost planet in our solar system, was named after Roman god of the underworld, who
was able to render himself invisible.
SATELLITE: Charon (the mythological boatman who ferried souls across the river Styx to
Pluto for judgement).