A special edition of the Space
Mailbag.
UPDATED: July 29, 3:45 p.m. ET
Suggestions for Renaming the Moon … Or Not
The Space Mailbag was stuffed with suggestions
about what (or whether) to rename the Moon. Thanks to all of you who
took the time to write, and please accept my apologies if I did not write back
or post your suggestion. [The question that spawned this
effort is near the bottom of this page.]
Most respondents supported the idea of giving the
Moon a new name [Argument for the case]. The incredibly
creative suggestions have been humorous, serious, thoughtful and sometimes unprintable.
A few are listed below.
Quite a few readers were somewhat taken aback by
the whole suggestion that the Moon needs a name. It's "Luna," they state flatly,
and always has been. In our very unofficial count, Luna beat Moon by
nearly 2:1. [Arguments in favor of Luna / Arguments
in favor of Moon].
Some suggested that, at the least, the word Moon
should always be capitalized when referring to the one that orbits Earth.
We've stopped posting new input to this special
edition of the Space
Mailbag. Meanwhile, following is a glimpse of what some SPACE.com
readers thought about renaming the Moon. -- RRB
In support of a name change
Michael Kidd:
I’ve always felt that the name of celestial objects are too cold and impersonal,
so I would wish for a name that sounds inviting.
K. Igor writes:
Just saying "The" Moon doesn't seem right, it makes it seem like it's
"The" moon of all moons, which it isn't. Yet, for being the closest orbiting
mass to our planet, we should definitely give it some special recognition …
Maybe one day when I have kids my son will point up at our moon and ask me what
it is and what it's called, and I don't know how saying "that's the moon" is
going to impress him that much. I think if I were to say "that's our moon called
Orionis," my son might even say, "Wow, I wish I could go to Orionis
some day!"
A mere handful of
the many creative suggestions
Newly added suggestions are at the
top
Lumina;
Sol IIIa; Nocturne; Prima-Luna,
Singularis, Earthlet; Dotir
(daughter); Lunartemis; Selene (Greek Goddess of the Moon); Isis; Blodeuwedd;
Neit; Janus; Terra Luna; Qamar; Sheen; Primum; Yacy ("moon" in the native language
of Paraguay); Lunar Base Alpha; Gleam; Green Cheese Whiz
Mark Whittington:
Luna Nostra - Latin for "Our Moon."
Wayne Murphy:
There is only one choice.... Gilligan. What
else would you call Earth's 'little buddy'?
Ken Renner:
My suggestion is naming, HOPE after Bob
Hope.
Blake Crary:
We should name it after the corporation willing to pay the most to sponsor it
- just like they do with baseball stadiums. Imagine looking up at the Pepsi
Diet Moon. Just thinking about it makes me feel lite-headed. Some companies
would probably decide to leave the name alone. "This full moon has been brought
to you by Joe Boxer Shorts..."
[RRB:
I said we weren't going to accept common names like Bob, but …]
Mark Cantrell:
I think the Moon should be named BOB. After
all, it's Brighter than Other Bodies. … Sure, a few adjustments might be needed.
Songs, for instance, might have to be renamed as well. How about "Shine On Harvest
Bob," "Blue Bob," or "Bad Bob Rising?"
Charles Roscoe:
I can not chose between three favorites. They supported each others work in
the dangerous time of the Inquisitions. I have a this suggestion: Galikepernicus
[a combination of Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo].
Jeffrey Gutkin:
That's no Moon, it's a SPACESTATION.
Scott Henderson:
Moe (short for Moon of Earth); Darock
(short for Darockdatfloats); Obor (short
for orbiting ball of rock)
Dan Cordell: Selűne.
It's the name of the moon goddess in the Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms
setting.
Deb Moore:
I think ziknoffphlatte (the "e"
is silent) would be a cool name. It doesn’t mean anything as far as I know but
that would eliminate a need to attach a story as to "why" the moon
is called that.
Charles Carr:
My 3-year-old came up with this idea: Sis.
She was thinking of "Sister"
Ethan from Salem Oregon:
We could do like the dot com companies did a couple of years back, auction off
the name to the highest bidder every year and allow them to advertise
on it.
Felix Korsch:
My suggestion is Luno. It's just the word
"moon" in Esperanto. The advantage of this word is that it's relatively neutral.
It's neither English nor Latin so everybody could accept it while knowing what's
meant.
Anonymous:
As a Star Trek fan, I would like to have the moon renamed Terra
Beta. On Star Trek, Earth is officially named Terra, so a satellite
could have the "beta" designation.
Carolyn
Loomis: Since Jupiter and Mars are up there, how about another God
of War albeit Celtic: Neit - Ireland; god
of battle. Or even a Celtic goodess beleived to have a connection to the moon:
Blodeuwedd - Wales; goddess of flowers,
lunar mysteries, wisdom.
Lisa
Mason: Since all the other planets and their moons are named for
the gods of ancient Greece, why not call our Moon "Artemis"
after the goddess of the moon. Artimis, or "Diana" to the Romans, was also the
goddess of the hunt. What greater tribute to space exploration could there be?
Many thanks for your beautiful website and research!
Greg Munro:
Mankind's Overwhelming Orbiting Neighbor or M.O.O.N
for short.
Steve
Gripentrog: Massive
Outpost Of Nothing -- M-O-O-N.
And a few more: Armstrong;
The Rock, Apollo, Atlantis, Big Cheese, Watcher; Kronos; Meta; Terra Minor
In Defense of "Luna"
Jerry Davis:
"The Moon" already has a name: Luna. Anyone who'd want to rename it has got
to be a Lunatic. Can you imagine how much it would cost in paperwork alone?
And how about all those textbooks that would suddenly be outdated?
Sarah Smith:
I like Luna. I think we should keep it instead of replacing it. Like the Earth
is Terra, and the Sun is Sol, these names were given long ago and have become
tradition. I don't think that we should change it, but maybe we could teach
the names to younger children as they learn "moon," "sun," and "earth."
Michael
Gruenhagen: Luna
is the obvious choice since it is the root of the word still used to refer to
lunar events. I'd also like to suggest that there are no other Suns whether
the word is capitalized or not. Sun is merely the name of our star.
In Defense of "Moon"
Ben Cooper:
To call the satellites of other planets moon is the wrong term. They are satellites.
It is the same as calling other stars "suns." Sun is the name of our star. We
just need to realize that Moon and Sun are the proper names, and that we should
refer to the others as satellites and stars.
Paul Pekarek:
Overall, "Moon" is as good as we need, and the creativity spent on trying to
rename it would be better spent on trying to figure out how to get colonies
on it.
Casper McCrary:
As I see it this is part of the problems we have today, there is always someone
wanting to change things. My grandfather always said if it isn't broke don't
fix it. The Moon has been for centuries and I for one will resist the change
if there is one.
Dave West:
Running out of things to do stories on? It's the moon, always was and always
will be.
More to come by 4 p.m. ET today!
July 25, 2003
The Question that Started it All
William Gilbert writes: I understand that
while most other planets' moons are named, Earth's is not. It is simply referred
to as "the moon." Why has our moon never been named?
RRB: William, you're not the only reader
to ask this question. Astronomers argue, though, that Earth's satellite does
have a name, one gained long ago (and for logical reasons, as I'll discuss below).
But that shouldn't stop a groundswell of public opinion suggesting a new name.
Or, in my opinion, at least better standardization of current usage.
For astronomers, upper case Moon means ours, and lower case moon
means "the natural satellite of a planet," says Cornell astronomy grad student
Britt Scharringhausen. So a lower case moon can be any old satellite. Scharringhausen
believes this distinction reinforces the importance of Earth's Moon.
"It requires no other name, because it's the most
important moon," Scharringhausen wrote on Cornell University's Ask
the Astronomer site. She also points out
that astronomers capitalize "the Galaxy" when referring to our Milky Way.
And of course there's only one Sun, one Earth.
Many publishers, including SPACE.com, capitalize our Moon as standard
style. So do most astronomy books. The Associated Press stylebook, followed
by most U.S. newspapers, calls for it to be lowercase, however. And some astronomers
fail to capitalize it in less formal writings, such as on self-published Web
pages.
The Moon has gone by other names. The Greeks called it Artemis and the Romans
knew it as Luna (or Diana, the virgin goddess). Luna endures in the word lunar,
which refers to all things of the Moon, but not of other moons. And there are
seasonal
Moon names, like September's Harvest Moon or, in August, the Sturgeon Moon!
The word Moon is possibly rooted in the ancient base me, related
to the modern word measure. This makes sense. Long before atomic clocks,
the passage of time was measured by watching the Moon's changing phases,
etymologists say.
Not satisfied? No problem. Just send
in your ideas for renaming the Moon, and we'll begin publishing the best
of them in our Space
Mailbag, starting Monday July 28.
The results will be unofficial, because it is the International Astronomical
Union that is responsible for naming celestial objects. This is just fun.*
Meanwhile, here some other lunar bits to chew on:
* Please, submissions of "Bob" or any other
formal Christian name will be ignored as being obvious and cliche. Make an effort,
people. Thanks!
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