Religious and Mythological Theme Naming

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

There's nothing particularly odd about women named Diana, Phoebe, or Cynthia. However, if you see a trio with those names, pay attention - all three names come from Greek Mythology, so if you see a group like this, there's probably some Theme Naming going on (and as all those names can be applied to the same goddess, you might be in for some real fun). Likewise, a group of men named Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all gathered together indicates that they will probably end up doing something important (especially if they have a friend named Jesse or Joshua). If the names fail to make good on their symbolic connotation, it's Squat's in a Name.

Most cases of Religious and Mythological Theme Naming aren't so subtle, and will throw around names like Ra, Horus, and Sakhmet with reckless abandon. In some cases, there will be separate groups with their own themes, so you might end up with one group named after Celtic gods and another named after Native American spirits.

Examples of Religious and Mythological Theme Naming include:

Anime and Manga

  • In Dragon Ball Mr. Satan is named after the biblical Satan, while his daughter Videl's name is an anagram of "devil". And Goku and Satan's mutual granddaughter gets two references: "Pan" is a loanword from Portuguese meaning "bread," as her father's name, Gohan, means "rice;" they're both carbohydrates and staple foods, and it also refers to the satyr, Pan, who has the physical form we associate with Satan.
  • The homunculi in Fullmetal Alchemist bear the names of the Seven Deadly Sins: Envy, Pride, Wrath, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, and Sloth.
    • And each and every one of them acts the part.
  • The Stands in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure have gone through several name themes. Initially they were named after the tarot, sometimes with a color added; Magician's Red, Star Platinum, Tower of Grey, Wheel of Fortune, etc. When they ran out of major arcana cards, they switched to Egyptian tarot (named after Egyptian gods).
  • Code Geass uses Theme Naming for its Humongous Mecha, drawing from Arthurian legend.
    • The the flying fortress "Damocles" at the end of season two very much counts as one. King Dionysius offered his kingship to his courtier, Damocles, who gladly accepts. While enjoying the spoils of his new found title, he realizes a sword dangling high above his head, held only by a single horse hair. This could be compared to Lelouche's claim to his father's throne near the end of season two, with his brother Schnizel using the Damocles' incredible air power (comparable to the perilous sword above of Damocles) to subdue him as well as the entire world. With the justification of Peace Through Superior Firepower.
  • All Gundams from Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (except for the titular one and 0 Gundam), are named from the Christian Angelic Hierarchy. The protagonists are even called Celestial Being. Further, one of the Meisters' name is Allelujah, while his alter-ego is called Hallelujah. There's also another trio of meisters whose surname are Trinity.
    • On the Japanese side, there's Susanoo, Mr. Bushido's final MS (at least in the series). Speaking of the upcoming movie, two of the gundams' names are taken from the Qur'an: Harute and Zabaniya. There's also Raphael.
  • Many characters in Appleseed had their names taken straight from the Greek mythology, starting with Briareos Hecatonchires and Athena...
  • The generals' mechas in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann are named after The Four Gods.
    • Further, many people see a connection between the main inspirational figure of TTGL having a name containing "kami" (the Japanese word for "God") and his friend/partner/successor being called Simon, as in Simon Peter, Jesus' disciple and the first pope. There's also something to be said about many of Kamina's original comrades dying in their efforts to defeat the enemy. Not sure about him being pierced by a spear though.
    • Yes,he was pierced by Thymilph's Gunmen,which carries a spear.
  • All of the beings from the world of Guze in Shakugan no Shana take names out of various mythologies. Just to name a few: there's the "Seeking Professor", Dantalion; Margery's battle-hungry lord, Marchosias; and Shana's lord, "God of Judgment" and "Flame of Heaven", Alastor.
  • RahXephon has all of the Dolems named after musical terms, and there's a fair amount of people getting Mayan-mythology-inspired nicknames.
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion has the Angels named after deuterocanonical angels of the Bible.
    • Plus Adam and Ev(e/a), and Lilith
      • The Evas don't refer to Eve, Evangelion means "messenger of good news" or simply "angel".
        • In fact, they do refer to Eve, just think about it for a little while: They were created from pieces of the first angel, and what was the first angel called? Adam. So, you've something called "Evas" who were created after an "Adam". Sounds familiar?
        • Plus, in Spanish, French and the other Romance languages (and not English, which is actually Germanic), Eve is spelled and pronounced "Eva." So yeah. There ya go.
    • There's also the Magi super-computer, divided into three cores, Casper, Balthasar and Melchior.
  • The characters of [[Eden: It's an Endless World!]] are named after a Gnostic theme. Those are rarely meaningful (Such as a druglord named Ennoia or Sofia, the freelance hacker). It's very significant in the case of the organisations, though, with a wannabe world-government named the Propater, led by a secret council called Pleroma and calling its Super Soldiers the Aeons.
  • Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02 have two brothers named after the Japanese hero Yamato Takeru. Carrying the joke further, one of the movies has them visit their grandmother in Shimane Prefecture, where Yamato Takeru was sent to die. They mostly spend that movie running around town, looking for a working computer.
  • In Bloody Monday the first group of terrorists take on religious code-names (Judas, Cain and Abel) and the second use fairy tail names (Peter Pan, Beast); their respective leaders are Simon and Arthur.
  • Soul Eater's mangaka, Ookubo, obviously loves Theme Naming and Shout Outs. So, it's not at all surprising he would have religious and mythical themes thrown in. A few examples include:
    • Two of the Big Bads are named after the ancient mythical beings, Medusa and Arachne (which follow an animal motif of being a snake and spider respectively).
    • Medusa invades the body of a child (in the form of a snake no less). Her name? Rachel, which is likely a reference to Jacob's wife in the Bible.
    • Marie Mjolnir, who turns into a hammer.
    • The Seven Deadly Sins are featured in the Book of Eibon. The protagonists in the book are also affected by whatever sin that chapter encompasses.
  • The Hiiragi sisters from Lucky Star are named Inori, Matsuri, Kagami and Tsukasa, respectively meaning "prayer," "festival," "mirror" [1] and "priest." Justified, since their father is a Shinto priest.
  • The techniques of the (Mangekyo) Sharingan in Naruto are named after Shinto gods (Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, Susanoo, Kagatsuchi, and Izanagi), except for Kamui (which is used by someone from outside the clan who had the eye transplanted).
  • Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru has a Spell Book called the Key of Solomon and the Tome of Eldritch Lore called the Key of Raziel. Summoned creatures have names like Fenrir and Nidhogg and Luka's Familiar is named Sodom.
  • The most recent arc of Detective Conan (starting with File 743) has a Roman/Greek god theme. The boy who introduces Conan to the mystery is named Apollo, his sister's name is Minerva, their mother's name is Juno, Minerva's ex-boyfriend is named Ares, the criminal is named Hades, and the riddle Conan has to solve involves Saturn. Additionally, Minerva's tennis opponant is named Demeter (Venus or Serena would be too obvious).
  • Sailor Moon. Let's see: Sailor Venus, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune, Sailor Saturn, and Sailor Pluto are all named after Greco-Roman gods (and one goddess). Queen Serenity and Princess Serenity are named after Selene, goddess of the moon, while Endymion is named after her human lover. The names of the cats (Luna, Artemis and Diana) are also names of the moon goddess. And a few minor characters also have mythological references, such as Thetis.
  • Ah! My Goddess, the goddesses Belldandy, Urd, and Skuld are named after the three Norns of Norse mythology, Verdandi, Urd and Skuld.
  • Mirai Nikki‍'‍s Future Diary owners are all named after members of the Roman Pantheon.


Comic Books

  • Plenty of characters from superhero comics are named according to religious and mythologica themes. From the Marvel Universe:
    • The minor superpowered group the Pantheon took its names from the Iliad, while the Lords of Light and Darkness had names and powers patterned after the Vedic deities of India. The supervillain group Zodiac has twelve members named after the signs of the Zodiac, which are connected to Greek mythology.
    • Callisto and Ursa Major are ultimately named after the same person, who was first transformed into a she-bear and then a constellation.
    • Spider-Man clone Kaine and the Juggernaut (Cain Marko) are both named after Abel's brother.
    • Elektra wanted to avenge her murdered father. What are the odds?
    • Other characters with names from Greek and Roman mythology: Arachne, Aurora (known to the Greeks as Eos), Calypso, Cassandra Nova, Chimera (and Kymaera), Cyclops, Elysius, Eros, Gorgon, Hydra, Janus, Luna, Medusa, Mentor, Oracle, Phoenix (also Eyptian etc.), Plutonia, Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S., Proteus, Psyche, Selene, Sersi (= Circe), Siryn, Titan, Titania, Triton, Ulysses Bloodstone. Also possibly Colossus (the Colossus of Rhodes was a giant statue of the god Helios).
    • With names from the Bible, Judaism and Christianity: Ahab (possibly via Moby Dick), Apocalypse and his Horsemen, Angel/Archangel, Black Goliath, Celestial Madonna, De'Lila (a Skrull), Diablo, Doc Samson, Exodus, Ezekiel, Gabriel (the Devil-Hunter), Genesis, Gideon, Gog (and Magog), Golem, Goliath, Jude (the Entropic Man), Kaballa, Legion, Mephisto, Nicholas Scratch (i. e. the devil), Professor Paxton Pentecost, Prester John, Revelation, Satannish, Son of Satan, Succubus. Possibly Joseph.
    • From other religions and mythologies: Banshee, Basilisk, Jihad, Juggernaut, Karma, Kismet, Merlin, Rama-Tut, Sphinx (the name is Greek, of course), Thunderbird. Possibly Karnak.
  • DC has, among others:
    • A major crossover event called Armageddon 2001 (Book of Revelation).
    • Apokolips, Artemis, Azrael, Cain and Abel, Cerberus, Chronos (already confounded with Kronos by the Greeks), Diana (Prince),Doomsday, Female Furies, Hippolyte, Jericho, Lady Shiva, Lord Chaos, Lord Satanus, Maxie Zeus, Morpheus (Sandman), Naiad, New Genesis, Oracle, Orion, Project Cadmus, Rhea Jones, Son of Vulcan, Troia (Donna Troy), Wotan, Zatanna.
    • in Wonder Woman.


Literature

  • Several characters in The Wheel of Time are named after figures in Arthurian legend.
  • Harry Potter, so darn much. Where can you even start? Remus Lupin is named after one of the famous twins Raised by Wolves. Minerva McGonagall gets her first name from the Roman goddess of wisdom and warfare. Hagrid briefly gains a love interest in Madame Olympe Maxime. Even Hermione Granger's first name comes from a name meaning "Dedicated to Hermes" - coincidentally the name of Percy's pet owl (Also the name of the daughter of Helen of Troy). Professor Pomona Sprout, of the Herbology department, gets her name from the Roman goddess of apples - Sybil Trelawney is the professor of Divination, and had a grandmother named Cassandra, who was also a Seer.
    • Some have also noted the Weasleys using a vaguely Arthurian pattern for some of their members: Arthur, Percy (like Percival), and Ginny (short for Ginevra, an Italian version of Guenivere).
    • Merope (Riddle's mother) was known as the lost Pleiade (minor deities), as unlike her sisters - who all paired up with gods - she fell in love with a mortal and so died a mortal death.
    • Sirius and Regulus Black are both named after stars; their relative Andromeda is named after a galaxy.
  • The Big Screwed-Up Family of bad guys in the Thursday Next books are named Hades, and their first names are all names of the rivers of Hades - Styx, Acheron, Aornis etc.
  • The Star Kingdom of Manticore in the Honorverse is real big on naming stuff after mythical creatures. They've got the planets Manticore, Spinx, Gryphon, and Medusa (which orbits the star Basilisk). They also like Greek history and mythology for ship names.


Live-Action TV

  • All of the members of the Dingle clan in the British soap opera Emmerdale have biblical names—Zacariah, Shadrach, Cain, Samson, Charity, etc. Reached ridiculous levels with the introduction of Shadrach's long-lost daughter, Genesis.
  • Although it's fairly subtle, in one episode of The X-Files, a pair of twins (one of whom is mentally challenged, the other of whom was a rocket scientist) are named Arthur (from the Grail legends) and Roland (from The Song of Roland, an Old French epic). The fact that Mulder and Scully didn't make the connection earlier is quite disappointing.
  • On Lost, many of the characters who aren't named for philosophers have biblical names: John, Matthew, Jacob, Benjamin, James, Michael, Aaron, etc., not to mention Christian Shephard. Horace Goodspeed's name seems to evoke the Egyptian Horus. Then there's Richard Alpert (after the real name of new age guru Ram Dass), or as some fans would call him, RA.
  • Heroes has a good many Biblical names, a few being: Peter, Gabriel, Nathan, Noah, Samson, Matt/Matthew, Micah, Benjamin, and Sarah, the last of whom got a twothreefer for her alias: Eden McCain.
  • On Dollhouse, the Washington, D.C. Dollhouse apparently uses Greek gods to code name their Actives.
  • All of the angels on Supernatural have theophoric (bearing a deity) names, even Zachariah and Balthazar.
    • A slightly more specific example: Castiel's rebellious inclinations are first hinted at when he starts not being particularly bothered by being called "Cass" for short. (The -el suffix being the part that refers to God).
  • The Asgard from Stargate SG-1 all have names of, and were in fact the inspiration for, the gods of Norse Mythology.
    • All the Goa'uld are named after gods from different mythologies (and took on those names specifically to control humans by pretending to be gods. There's Ra, Osiris, Apophis, Anubis, Hathor, etc. from the ancient Egyptian sphere; Ba'al of the Canaanites (mentioned in the Bible); Cronus from Greek mythology; Nirrti from Hinduism, and those are just a few of the main ones.
    • Tau'ri warships get their names mainly from figures in Greek Mythology that haven't been identified as Goa'uld. The first and only BC-303 was the Prometheus. The later BC-304 Daedalus-class continued the trend; three of the four operated by the US Air Force are named Daedalus, Apollo, and Odyssey, respectively. The fourth USAF 304 was to be named Phoenix, but was rechristened George Hammond after the SGC's founding general. Averted for the other two 304s, which are operated by Russia and China and named Korolev[2] and Sun Tzu respectively.
  • The Earth Alliance of Babylon 5 use Roman and Greek names for many (though not all) of their Cruisers and destroyers. The EAS Agamemnon, Heracles, Pollux, Vesta, Agrippa, Damocles, Apollo, Medusa, Juno, and Zeus to name just a few. The first-contact situation that led to the Earth-Minbari War was credited to the EAS Prometheus.


Theatre

  • The brothers in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers are named Adam, Benjamin, Caleb, David, Ephraim, Frank, and Gideon, mostly after names in The Bible. The "Odd Name Out" is Frank, short for "Frankincense", as there are no "F" names in the Old Testament, the equivalent sound being represented by the diphthong "ph". Frank, naturally, becomes incensed if you call him by his full name. I'm sure he would've preferred his parents to have dipped into the New Testament and named him "Felix" or "Festus".
    • And when the wife of the eldest brother gives birth to a daughter, she sticks with the established trend and names her Hannah.


Video Games

  • Finnish Remedy Entartainment likes to throw in many Norse and Slavic mythological Shout Outs in their games. Include but are not limited to:
    • Max Payne: Apart from being a Whole-Plot Reference to the Ragnarök (which supplies the name for the club Ragna Rock), it introduces Alex Balder and a helpful and one-eyed old guy named Woden. Of course, there also are the Aesir Cooperation, the drug Valkyr, and a little something called Project: Valhalla (the information to which can be accessed through the computer network Yggdrasil).
    • Alan Wake: Pretty much an Alternate History horror thriller to Max Payne with plenty of Shout Outs to the game franchise. Features a 1980s heavy metal band named The Elder Gods, which consisted of four members (nick)named Odin, Thor, Loki and Fat Bob (Balder). The main antagonist (avatar) is named Barbara Jagger, and Wake's holiday domicile - that turns out to be a trap - is named Birdleg Cabin (both references to the slavic witch/goddess Baba Yaga who resides in a bird-legged cabin).
  • The Human Aliens from the planet Balmar in several of the Super Robot Wars games, virtually without exception, have names taken from the Bible, from Judeo-Christian myth, or other Hebrew words. In particular, there is a whole series of clones who are named after the Seven Churches in the Book of Revelation.
  • From the Free Space series of space sims:
    • Terran ships get their names from Greek mythology. Apollo, Athena, Medusa, Hercules, Orion, etc. Also from Norse mythology as well: Valkyrie, Loki, Mjolnir, Fenris, etc.
    • Vasudan ships have an ancient Egyptian theme: Horus, Serapis, Hatshepsut, Aten, Anubis...
    • Shivan ships have a demonic motif: Seraphim, Basilisk, Lucifer, Sathanas, Ravana, Lilith, and so on. There's also a destroyer class that's simply called "Demon".
    • The first game designated Terran wings with Greek letters (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, etc.). Enemy Terrans were Traitor Alpha, Traitor Beta, etc. Vasudan wings were Zodiac signs (Aries, Virgo, Libra...) and Shivan wings were Hindu gods (Brahma, Vishnu, Durga...). The second game simplified this by simply designating allied wings by Greek letters and enemy wings by Zodiac signs, regardless of race.
  • Most of the Humongous Mecha controlled by important characters in the Zone of the Enders games are named after Egyptian deities.
  • The wise men in the English version of Chrono Trigger were named Melchior, Gaspar and Baltazar.
  • Xenogears plays this trope in many ways:
    • Psychology - Lacan, Id
    • Kabbalah - Zohar, Shevat, Nisan, Merkava, Path of the Sephiroth.
    • Gnosticism - Sophia, Deus, Uruborous.
    • Christianity - Cain, Abel, Fatima, Balthazar, Golgotha.
  • The same goes for its spiritual successor, Xenosaga.
    • Christianity - Zohar emulators named after disciples of Jesus. Abel's Ark.
    • Judaism - The mecha driven by Anima Relics are all named after Hebrew patriarchs.
    • Alchemy - Nigredo, Albedo, Citrene, and Rubedo are named after stages of alchemical transfiguration.
    • Jungian psychology - UMN, collective unconscious.
    • Wagner's Nibelung - The Dammerung, the Rhine Maidens.
    • Nietzsche - Each of the game's subtitles is the name of a text by German philosopher Nietzsche.
  • In Body Harvest, all the bosses are named after mythological monsters and demons: Leviathan, Cerberus, Moloch, Beelzebub, and Tomegatherion.
  • Steambot Chronicles: Battle Tournament uses Greco-Roman mythological theme naming. However, since many of these are also the names of celestial bodies, and those that don't match the pattern are named for stars with names not derived from mythology, it's hard to tell if they were going for this or Stellar Names—except for male lead "Apollo", who is distinctly a mythical case.
  • The three classes of Mecha-Mooks in Mass Effect 2 are LOKI (humanoid), FENRIS (dog-like), and YMIR (giant).
    • The planet the Overlord DLC takes place on has four stations; Hermes Station, the communication center, Vulcan Station, the geothermal power plant, Prometheus Station, a crashed geth ship and Atlas Station, the main base where the Overlord himself is housed.
    • Husks, which are formed from bodies impaled upon massive spikes nicknamed "Dragon's Teeth", a throwback to the Greek myth of Jason and the Golden Fleece in which 'dragon's teeth' were sown on Athena's instruction to create vicious warrior-men.
  • BioShock (series) and its sequel include many areas named after Greek gods or mythological concepts, such as Apollo Square, Arcadia, and Dionysus Park, although the only character named for a god is Atlas.
  • Metal Gear Solid 3 plays with this quite a bit. Naked Snake's contact is meant to be ADAM, but turns out to be EVA. In the end, the roles are reversed- the Snake is tempted by EVA.
    • And ADAM--aka Major Ocelot--falls for the Snake.
  • In Deus Ex, UNATCO's security levels are named after the Christian angelic hierarchy, ranging from Angel/0A to Seraphic/8X. There's also implied to be a God clearance level.
  • Umineko no Naku Koro ni has quite a few:
    • Eva, Ange and Lion spell out Evangelion, which means "Gospel", or "Fukuin" in Japanese, which is also the name of the orphanage where the servants are taken from.
    • Beatrice, Virgilia and Clair Vaux of Bernard are all taken from The Divine Comedy.
    • Kyrie's and Ange's names are taken from Christian prayers: Kyrie Eleison and the Angelus.
    • Maria's name is a direct reference to The Virgin Mary. Discussed in EP7.
    • The names of the Seven Stakes are taken from an old classification of demons and their correspondence to the Seven Deadly Sins.
    • Ronove, Gaap, Furfur and Zepar are all taken from the Ars Goetia.
  • Persona 3 plays this straight, with the Personas of S.E.E.S. being named after well-known personalities in Western mythology (ex. Messiah, Orpheus, Polydeuces, Castor, Pallas Athena, Cerberus, Hermes) Persona 4 does the same thing, except with figures in Japanese Mythology instead (ex. Izanagi-no-Okami, Amaterasu, Take-Mikazuchi, Kanzeon).
  • In Steins;Gate, Okabe has the habit of giving even the most trivial affairs codenames based on Norse mythology. Three of them are central to the story: Operation Urd, Operation Verdandi and Operation Skuld.
  • Fire Emblem does this sometimes for character names and artifacts, for instance, Fire Emblem Elibe drew from The Song of Roland and Fire Emblem Tellius from Arthurian legend.
  • The World Ends With You has Yoshiya Kiryu, who tends to go by the nickname "Joshua"—which is derived from the same Hebrew name as "Jesus". At the end of the game, it's revealed that Joshua is the Composer, who is presented by the narrative as a loose allegory for God.
  • Battlestar Galactica Online has both Colonial and Cylon Lines and Carriers named after Norse myth.
  • In Tachyon the Fringe, GalSpan ships get names from Greek Mythology. Among fighters, we have examples like the Pegasus interceptor and the Orion multirole fighter.
  • In the X-Universe, Paranid ships are named for figures from Greek Mythology (Hermes, Medusa, Zeus), as are some Argon ships (Mercury,[3] Centaur, Minotaur). OTAS ships are named for Greek wind deities and regional winds (Boreas, Mistral, Venti). AGI Task Force ships get names from Norse Mythology (Thor, Skirnir, Valhalla).
  • Most Prominent LBX in Danball Senki are named after figures from Greek Mythology (Achilles, Pandora, Perseus) with a dash of Norse Mythology (Odin and Fenrir). Their creator, Professor Yamano, is shown to be fond of these stories
  • The two main Sufficiently Advanced Aliens factions in the MMORPG Tabula Rasa are the Eloh and Neph. Elohim and Nephilim are divine beings described in the Hebrew Bible—which makes some sense given that they're the Precursors.
  • EVE Online has the Amarr Empire, who name all their ships based on Christian myth (Armageddon, Omen, Apocalypse), the Caldari state has a few Mythological creatures (Rokh, Kitsune, Tengu), the Gallente have Greek/Hindu (Ishtar, Helios), and the Minmatar like Norse (Huginn, Muninn, Ragnarok).


Web Comics


Web Original

  • Broken Saints has a number of these, especially with Gabriel, as well as Mars and his cronies Phobos and Deimos.


Western Animation

  • In Sealab 2021, Captain Shanks and his many brothers are all named after heroes from Greek mythology; Shanks' first name is Bellerophon, and his brothers include Odysseus, Jason, and Perseus.
  • Sterling Archer works for a spy agency called ISIS. Its rival agency is called ODIN.
  • The three Weird Sisters on Gargoyles are named Luna, Phoebe and Selene. (You get the feeling Greg Weisman likes Theme Naming?)
  • In Adventures from the Book of Virtues, Plato the bison, Socrates the bobcat, and Aristotle the prairie dog are named after the three famous philosophers of the Greek mythology. Also, Aurora the hawk is named after the Roman goddess of dawn.


Real Life

  • In Real Life, four out of seven days of the week get their English names from Norse gods.
    • Tuesday: Tyr
    • Wednesday: Odin
    • Thursday: Thor
    • Friday: Frigg
    • The other three are named after the Roman god of farming (Saturday, after Saturn) and celestial bodies (Sunday and Monday, loosely "sun-day" and "moon-day").
  • Saturday is named after Saturn, and across most European languages,especially Romance languages, the seven days of the week are named after the Seven celestial bodies that were visible to the Romans. German and English break the pattern and name their days after Norse Gods instead of Roman Gods for four days. Irish breaks the pattern on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday by naming the days after fasting practices- Dé Céadaoin, Déardoin, Dé Aoine meaning the first fast day, the day between fasts, and the day of fasting respectively.
  • The sun- Sunday, -changed to "the lord's day" by the French (dimanche),the Irish(Dé Domhnaigh) the Italians(dominica), and the Spanish (domingo)
  • The moon - Monday, lundi(French), lunedi(Italian) Dé Luan (Irish), lunes (Spanish)
  • Mars- mardi(French), Dé Máirt(Irish), martedi(Italian), martes (Spanish)
  • Mercury- mercredi(French), mercoledi(Italian), miércoles (Spanish)
  • Jupiter/Jove- jeudi(French), giovedi(Italian), jueves (Spanish)
  • Venus- vendredi(French), venerdi(Italian), viernes (Spanish)
  • Saturn- Saturday, Dé Satharn(Irish). Often changed to "Sabbath day": samedi(French), sabato(Italian), sábado (Spanish)
  • In Real Life, all the planets and moons as well as most of the asteroids and dwarf planets in the solar system are named after Greek and Roman gods—save for Uranus's moons. They're named after Shakespearean heroines (Miranda, Ophelia, Desdemona, Juliet, etc)
    • Except for a few of them: Ariel, Umbriel, and Belinda are named after the characters from Rape Of The Lock, and Oberon is a minor male character in A Midsummer Nights Dream.
      • And Earth.
    • It goes deeper than that. Mars' moons are named after his sons Phobos (Fear) and Deimos (Terror). Jupiter's moons are named for his lovers and daughters, Saturn's for Titans,[4] and Neptune's for water divinities.
    • And there are now established rules for surface features on those bodies - for example, craters and crevasses on Jupiter's moon Europa are named after characters and locations in Celtic mythology, while those on Saturn's moon Phoebe are named after items from the story of Jason and the Argonauts. See the planetary nomenclature page on The Other Wiki for details.
  1. ↑ Kagami herself explains the religious significance of the mirror in Shinto.
  2. ↑ destroyed with all hands by the Ori
  3. ↑ okay, that one's technically Roman
  4. ↑ and as of 2000, giants from other cultures
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Religious_and_Mythological_Theme_Naming?oldid=1991092"