How the Planets Got Their Names - An Open Blog Post

Last week I talked about why Pluto was no longer considered a planet. This week we will talk about how and why each planet got their respective names.

We can start by saying that each planet was named after a Roman God or Goddess (with the exception of Earth and Uranus).

Mercury, the first planet, was named after the god of travel because it is observed to orbit very quickly around the sun.

Venus, the brightest planet, was considered the most beautiful, and was named after the goddess of love.

Earth, the one we live on! Also, the only planet not named after a Roman god (besides Uranus). Earth stems its name from German roots. Germans called our planet "Erde" which literally means: soil or ground.

Mars, the Roman god of war. Because of the red, blood-like color of Mars, the Romans named it after their god of war.

Jupiter. Because Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system, the Romans named this planet after the king of gods: Jupiter. The planet was considered to be the largest and most powerful.

Saturn, the god of time. It is believed that this planet was named after the god of time because its orbit around the Sun was the slowest of all the planets. Saturday is also named after this god.

Uranus, yeah, the one with the funny name. Uranus was actually named after the Greek god of the sky.

Neptune, the blue planet, was named after the god of the sea because of its vivid blue color.

Pluto, the one that is no longer even considered a planet, was named after the Roman god of the underworld.


For my next open blog post I would like to talk about some theories as to how the planets were formed, and why they orbit the sun.

Works Cited

"How the Planets and Satellites Got Their Names." FactMonster.com. Pearson Education, 2007. Web. 20 Sept. 2012.