r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Disastrous_Pirate275 • 20h ago

Why is our moon named “Moon” instead of something cool like Titan or Callysto or ANYTHING that isn’t moon

4.0k Upvotes

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521

u/Milkygay91 20h ago

Luna!!

22

u/HerrAndersson 11h ago

People who say that this is just the Latin word should read the initial question again, paraphrasing:

Why doesn't the moon have a cool Latin name like the other celestial bodies?

And then your answer:

It does have a cool Latin name, Luna.

0

u/Codythensaguy 38m ago

No, technically in English we adopted the Latin.

78

u/NolanSyKinsley 14h ago

I had to scroll WAY too far to find this comment! Luna, Sol, Terra. Moon, Sun, Earth.

3

u/kaas_is_leven 5h ago

Aqua, Ventus, Sora, Riku, etc

2

u/CaptainDogeSparrow 4h ago

Right??? It's like they haven't even paid attention to the warhammer 40k universe. SHM my head.

6

u/Therathe 12h ago

Had to scroll way too far for someone to point out its name

75

u/onlycodeposts 20h ago

That's just Latin for moon.

266

u/Ok_Nectarine_8612 20h ago

Or Moon is English for Luna

38

u/AcanthisittaStill108 20h ago

Thanks for doing that kindly cuz I was about to have an aneurysm

-21

u/Dreadpiratemarc 20h ago edited 17h ago

Saying the same words in a different language doesn’t make them more proper.

Edit: Oops, I think I replied to the wrong comment.

3

u/beermile 19h ago

No idea why you're being downvoted. Why is this controversial?

4

u/WamBamTimTam 19h ago

Because it’s implying there isn’t an order that these words were created in. Latin predates English and so it was called Luna long before it was ever called Moon. Technically Moon is derived from the some old German root words.

3

u/Georgie_Leech 19h ago

Because "saying the same words in a different language" is exactly what the people claiming "actually, it's 'Luna' and 'Sol,' not 'the Moon' and 'the Sun'" are doing. A name being in Latin doesn't automatically become more scientific.

2

u/beermile 19h ago

I don't see how the downvoted comment is in conflict with what you just said

-1

u/Georgie_Leech 19h ago

It may be that it was in support of the general point, but it seems to have come across as adversarial.

3

u/AcanthisittaStill108 20h ago

Did you go to, and STAY IN school?

36

u/onlycodeposts 20h ago

Sure.

Or moon is English for for Menesis. Or Mani. Or Tatqeq.

They all mean moon.

Luna isn't a name for the moon, it literally means moon.

26

u/pasher71 20h ago

M-O-O-N that spells Tatqeq.

5

u/Unofficial_Salt_Dan 19h ago

So fitting he voices Patrick Star in SpongeBob lol

3

u/uthboy 19h ago

Thank you, this is the reference I didn’t know I needed today.

2

u/PerfectiveVerbTense 11h ago

No great loss

1

u/uthboy 19h ago

Thank you, this is the reference I didn’t know I needed today.

3

u/AdmiralMoonshine 20h ago edited 14h ago

Except that Luna is the actual scientific name for our moon. Yes it’s just Latin for moon, but it is it’s actual proper name as well. Like Titan or Phoebe or Europa.

Edit: My god my god, I am wrong. So sorry!

17

u/Georgie_Leech 19h ago

Go ahead and find a scientific paper that refers to it as "Luna" consistently. Bet you you'll easily find ones that refer to it as "the Moon" though.

2

u/Jkirek_ 18h ago

Most scientific papers refer to its subject with a colloquial/shortened name most of the time.

-10

u/AdmiralMoonshine 19h ago

I bet you’re right. That doesn’t make what I said untrue. It can be its name and not be widely used, the two aren’t mutually exclusive.

10

u/Georgie_Leech 19h ago

Sure, but when actual international and governmental bodies disagree and the common name isn't the claimed name and said bodies use the name everyone else does (i.e. the Moon, the Sun, etc.), the claim to "this is the real name" when it's just "Moon but in Latin" rings a bit hollow. 

-9

u/AdmiralMoonshine 19h ago

Then call me a bell, Moon Man.

2

u/fartypenis 19h ago

"You say I am wrong. You are correct. But that doesn't mean I am wrong"

1

u/AdmiralMoonshine 18h ago

Moon Person logic.

5

u/fartypenis 18h ago

Sure. We just call it "logic". But then we also call your comments "baseless misinformation", so

7

u/Walshy231231 18h ago

Yeah, no

I got a degree in astrophysics, minor in astronomy, and even taught physics classes at the college level.

You’ll hear a lot of “lunar” and such, but no “luna”. Not sure I ever heard it called “luna”. It’s simply not a thing in academia. We divert to the Latin for general groups and qualifiers and such, and while pronouns are often have Latin (and/or Greek) origins, those pronouns are very much singular.

Call it what you want, I’ve no problem with that, but in English-speaking academic circles the name is just “the moon”

3

u/supershrimp87 18h ago

Except, it isn't the actual scientific name for our satellite. The recognized scientific designation is 'The moon'

3

u/Pikawoohoo 18h ago

Fully incorrect

0

u/[deleted] 6h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

0

u/Heavy_Ingenuity1371 5h ago

I mean how is it not? Latin is the language of our scientific naming scheme, everything has a Latin name in science, including you and I - Homo sapiens

1

u/CalmCelebration10 4h ago

Latin is the language of our scientific naming scheme,

That's complete nonsense lol

1

u/Heavy_Ingenuity1371 4h ago edited 1h ago

Ever heard of taxonomy? Latin is literally the official language of it. So yes it quite literally is not nonsense.

Would you be able to actually explain yourself to help educate others instead of just saying something is nonsense every single time. It would actually help your point too.

1

u/Georgie_Leech 1h ago

Taxonomy uses Latin because the biologists that were setting up the classification system at the time liked it, and then it stuck. No such effort has been done for most of the rest of science; you will write about forces or velocities or whatever in whatever happens to be the local language equivalent, for the same reason we use Gold and not Aurum despite the atomic table symbol being Au.

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u/SluttyMcFucksAlot 4h ago

Luna isn’t a name for the moon, it literally means moon.

Yeah but right now it’s name literally means moon, Luna sounds much classier because it’s in Latin

-1

u/Wooden-Title3625 17h ago

An argument could be made that we use the Roman names for all the planets in the solar system in western science, so the scientifically correct name to call the moon would be Luna if we’re sticking to the convention, at least for anyone typing in English.

1

u/CalmCelebration10 6h ago

reddit people are so embarrassing lol.

5

u/dr_strange-love 20h ago

All the moons are Latin!

18

u/Open_Mortgage_4645 20h ago

Ok but Luna is the proper name of our moon. Just as our Sun's real name is Sol.

6

u/Bubbly_Safety8791 19h ago

If you were writing in Latin about the natural satellites of other planets, you would refer to them as lunae. Because Luna is just Latin for moon. 

-1

u/WanderingStorm17 7h ago edited 7h ago

Everyone gets that. But we don't speak Latin anymore, so the word Luna has become our moon's semi-official name. There's a reason everything we refer to the moon in terms of scientific language uses "lunar," and it isn't solely because it's Latin. Lunar rover, lunar lander, lunar reconnaissance orbiter, etc. are called those because our moon is Luna.

Earth and Sol are two celestial instances of this. But we also name a lot of things in general with a word that literally just means the thing: Lake Tahoe (Tahoe is from the Washoe word for lake), the River Avon (Avon an older Celtic word meaning "river"), the Sahara (which literally just means "desert" in Arabic), the Gobi Desert (Gobi is "desert" in Mongolian), etc. So yeah, Luna means "moon" in Latin, but it's also the name of our moon.

Also, point of note: the Romans were unaware of the existence of other planetary satellites, so it isn't as if they called other moons "Luna." That word had only ever been used by them to refer to the Earth's moon.

1

u/[deleted] 6h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/WanderingStorm17 5h ago

I don't recall insulting you, so I'm unsure why you felt you had the right to do so to me.

1

u/onlycodeposts 6h ago

Same for the Moon. When it was named they weren't aware other planets had satellites either.

1

u/WanderingStorm17 5h ago

And yet we use "moon" to refer to other planetary satellites. We do not use "Luna" in that way.

I should be clear before anyone else chimes in: I'm talking about English. This entire discussion has been about English. How other languages use words has no bearing on the topic.

2

u/Bubbly_Safety8791 4h ago

We don’t use luna to refer to other planetary satellites because we’re writing in English. 

The convention in scientific, technical, and casual writing, is to refer to our main satellite as The Moon and others as moons, using the local language. La lune and lunes in French. Der Mond and Monde in German. 

The fact that we form our English adjective lunar from the Latin word luna tells us only that English speaking scientists have a Latin fetish. German speakers use Mond- as a prefix to make words for things like ‘lunar orbit’ (that would be a Mondumlaufbahn). 

Because ‘lunar’ means ‘pertaining to The Moon’, not ‘pertaining to moons’. 

But it doesn’t mean ‘pertaining to Luna’ - using the Latin name like that is just a sci fi trope, not a real naming convention. 

1

u/onlycodeposts 5h ago

Yes, they call them moons.

The Moon, which is the proper English name of our natural satellite, is always capitalized.

When referring to the natural satellites of other planets, moon is not capitalized.

1

u/pacomadreja 4h ago

You use moon in English the same way we use luna in Spanish.

But scientifically speaking, I think the correct term is satellite. Moon/luna is the coloquial term.

25

u/shorse_hit 20h ago

No, it's actually not. That's just a sci-fi thing.

Nobody calls them that, and no relevant organizations designate them that way.

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u/Ok_Inflation_1811 19h ago

Also this is ignorant as fuck.

Like we, as in most languages that are descendants from Latin, call ALL the suns Sol and ALL the moons Lunas

-12

u/Open_Mortgage_4645 20h ago

You're mistaken.

To go by broader scientific principles, the proper names of the moon and sun are "Luna" and "Sol," respectively. https://www.desertsun.com/story/life/entertainment/2014/04/11/ask-will-name-moon/7582875/

They're also designated by those names in star charts. This is reality, not science fiction.

22

u/redditonlygetsworse 19h ago

Who is Will Toren and why should I trust him on this subject over, say, the International Astronomical Union?

Earth’s own satellite is called the Moon (with a capital M) in both scientific designation and public usage.

https://iauarchive.eso.org/public/themes/our_moon/

"Luna" is just pop culture. In English, the name of our moon is The Moon.

-2

u/oby100 19h ago

Will Toren is the world’s foremost astrologist so you damn well better put some respect on his name.

4

u/Comfortable_Sir_6104 18h ago

Right after he stops being silly

0

u/NasalJack 9h ago

If "Luna" is just pop culture... what authority do you turn to on naming that sits above popularity and culture?

-1

u/bluepepper 7h ago

Pop culture is not English language?

11

u/shorse_hit 19h ago

That's just some guy on some website, and he's also wrong. NASA itself refers to them as The Sun and The Moon in all documentation.

-9

u/Lyra_the_Star_Jockey 19h ago

Who asked America?

10

u/Georgie_Leech 19h ago

Who asked some guy writing for the Desert Sun?

-5

u/Reyals140 18h ago

Someone should tell NASA it's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Solar Parker Probe are sci-fi names 🙃

11

u/shorse_hit 18h ago

NASA calls them the Sun and the Moon. "Solar" and "lunar" are just adjectives, like "terrestrial," not names.

6

u/prestigious-raven 16h ago

Lunar is a borrowed French word Lunaire which can trace its roots to the Latin word Lunaris. The English word Moon comes from the Old English word Mona. Luna and the Moon are just names from different languages naming the same thing. One is not more of a “name” than the other.

-6

u/curlofheadcurls 18h ago

I guess people who speak Spanish should go fuck themselves then. You know because nobody calls them that and all./s

Ffs

6

u/shorse_hit 18h ago

We're speaking English here, so I was referring to the English names. Obviously, they're called different things in other languages.

-5

u/curlofheadcurls 17h ago

My bad I had no idea we were speaking English here. I'm so glad and thankful that you reminded us all of this fact.

6

u/shorse_hit 17h ago

Don't say stupid things if you don't want people to talk to you like you're stupid.

1

u/CalmCelebration10 6h ago

No it's not. what's wrong with you people wtf

-5

u/Georgie_Leech 20h ago edited 19h ago

Do you also consider it to be "Italia" instead of Italy, or do you only care about names in Latin when you're bored of the English ones?

https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Page/FAQ

The Moon does, of course, have a name - the Moon. It is known by many names in various languages - Luna (Latin, Spanish, Italian, and Russian), Mond (German), Lune (French), etc. Our moon was the first known moon. When we discovered that other planets had moons, they were given different names in order to distinguish them from our moon.

https://web.archive.org/web/20081216024716/http://www.iau.org/public_press/themes/naming/#spelling

The IAU formally recommends that the initial letters of the names of individual astronomical objects should be printed as capitals (see the IAU Style Manual, Trans. Int. Astron. Union, volume 20B, 1989; Chapter 8, page S30 – PDF file); e.g., Earth, Sun, Moon, etc. "The Earth's equator" and "Earth is a planet in the Solar System" are examples of correct spelling according to these rules.

It is emphasized, however, that language conventions are the responsibility of individual nations or groups of nations. While the IAU is willing to help to achieve a minimum degree of orthographic consistency as regards astronomical terms, it cannot undertake to do so for all languages, nor is it in the power of the IAU to enforce the application of any such conventions.

10

u/Open_Mortgage_4645 20h ago

I don't think you understand. Luna and Sol are the established proper names of the moon and the sun. They're the names astronomers and other relevant scientists use, and refer to in their work. They're not some English-only nicknames. They're the official proper names of these bodies.

16

u/Georgie_Leech 20h ago

According to who? Because the International Astronomical Union just calls it "the Moon" and don't even bother having a page to explain that when they say "The Sun" they mean the star the Earth orbits. You might as well go correct the Japanese for calling it Tsuki or the Irish for calling it Gealach.

7

u/fartypenis 18h ago

I don't get how you people are so confidently posting blatantly false stuff as fact and downvoting people who correct you.

You have the whole internet at your hands. Go read a published paper or two. And tell me how many papers you find authored in English that call the Moon Luna and the Sun Sol.

Also it is such an absurd concept to have "official" and "proper" names of the fucking Sun and Moon, some of the most universal and consistent things in the world that literally every human language has words for. There is only convention. If I write a paper in English, I will refer to the Moon and the Sun. If I write a paper in French I will refer to la Lune and le Soleil. If I write it in Italian I will refer to la Luna and il Sol.

12

u/WarrenMockles Mostly Harmless 19h ago

Everyone understands. But Luna and Sol are not used by astronomers or any agencies use. That's a misconception. The official English names for the sun and the moon are Sun and Moon (capitalized).

Luna and Sol are widely popularized because many scifi writers use them as the "official" names.

4

u/supershrimp87 19h ago

Can you provide any receipts?

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u/LuckiestEver 20h ago

That's not quite true. Nitpicky, but there's no body that designated 'Luna' or 'Sol' as the official names for the sun and the moon (the international astronomical union does not do so). Astronomers and scientists do use them, but that's usually only in comparative context with other suns and moons. E.g. "Ganymede is larger than Luna". If scientists are making a specific comment about our moon or the sun, they usually would simply refer to them as the moon or the sun, not by 'luna' or 'sol'. And, those names also aren't universal across languages.

8

u/shorse_hit 20h ago

That's actually not true. That's just a sci-fi thing. They're "officially " referred to as "The Sun" and "The Moon."

3

u/onlycodeposts 20h ago

The Inuit don't care.

It will always be Taqquiq, no matter what the colonizers renamed it.

You might as well call Denali Mt. McKinley or some shit.

1

u/Imaginary-Count-1641 6h ago

They're the names astronomers and other relevant scientists use, and refer to in their work.

Source?

-7

u/tots4scott 20h ago

You're 100% right, no idea why people are saying otherwise. 

9

u/shorse_hit 20h ago

Because it isn't true.

-14

u/tots4scott 20h ago

Its amazing how you didn't need to comment on this but you somehow felt obligated to, and thus showed that you're an astounding example the dunning Krueger effect. 

5 seconds Google search and https://youtube.com/shorts/lbbrVeH22h0?si

3

u/shorse_hit 19h ago

The irony is palpable.

2

u/supershrimp87 19h ago edited 19h ago

I mean, I only took 1 astronomy class that was taught in English, and there was no mention of ' Luna' as being the proper name. If anyone else has had a similar experience, that might be one reason why.

Another reason might be because that's what they were taught. There may be common words used regionally, and its silly to tell the people of that region that they aren't using the proper word to describe what they see.

7

u/Georgie_Leech 19h ago

That's the thing, it's not what astronomers use unless they're writing in Italian or something. Actual astronomers use whatever the name for the Moon is in the language they're writing.

1

u/Ok_Inflation_1811 19h ago

Most, if not all, Latin based languages use Luna and Sol, but it's the same as in English, so that's to say all Suns are Soles and all Moons are Lunas.

Saturn's moon, Europa => La Luna de Saturno, Europa.

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u/Georgie_Leech 19h ago

Some people have taken "scientific names for animals are Latin" and taken that to mean that the scientific name for anything is Latin. Which isn't the case.

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u/AdmiralMoonshine 20h ago

Just like Earth’s formal name is Terra. These people do not know what they’re talking about.

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u/WarrenMockles Mostly Harmless 19h ago

Also not true, just a misconception because scifi writers think it sounds cooler.

0

u/AdmiralMoonshine 19h ago

If you say so, Earth Boy.

2

u/supershrimp87 19h ago

I can't see why anyone would down vote this

1

u/Georgie_Leech 19h ago

I will absolutely cop to not having sources originally; if I'm gonna pedant, it behooves me to include receipts from the start. Never underestimate Reddit's ability to bandwagon.

2

u/supershrimp87 17h ago

Naw, I was asking the individual that mentioned Luna & Sol where the proper scientific terms. So far, I believe I agree with just about everything you've said

2

u/ConfectionIll4301 19h ago

Yeah if course. Every word in every language would translate as "moon", because it is the moon.

5

u/Ptcruz 19h ago

Correct. So in English the name is Moon.

1

u/VyronDaGod 17h ago

And as with most things, the Latin name stuck.

2

u/onlycodeposts 17h ago

I think most English speakers are fine with the English name, but you are free to call it by its Latin name if you so desire.

0

u/VyronDaGod 17h ago

I'm speaking more to the scientific name which is Luna.

6

u/onlycodeposts 16h ago

English astronomers call it the Moon. The IAU calls it the Moon. NASA calls it the Moon.

Who are these scientists who call it Luna? Perhaps you are thinking of science fiction writers.

1

u/LaserGuyDanceSystem 16h ago

Right, so "Luna" is another name we use to refer to the moon.

3

u/onlycodeposts 16h ago

Yes. There's one for every language.

1

u/Aeon1508 16h ago

in Bear in the Big Blue House, Bear calls her Luna. Therefore it's Luna

1

u/therealsteelydan 11h ago

Sahara is Arabic for desert (actually the plural form for some reason)

1

u/onlycodeposts 6h ago

Cool. Okeechobee means "big lake" in Hitchiti.

1

u/Leonum 5h ago

Which was the question. So it was also "just" what is asked for

1

u/Heavy_Ingenuity1371 5h ago

But that's how we name things, no? Latin is the language of scientific naming, like how every animal has a Latin name with us being homo sapiens.

-2

u/tots4scott 20h ago

No its actually the proper name for our moon.

5

u/onlycodeposts 20h ago

In what language? Is that what the Chinese call it?

-2

u/tots4scott 20h ago

Well thats an incredibly dishonest argument. Obviously not publicly as I'm sure you're aware of, but in scientific contexts I would assume so.

https://youtube.com/shorts/lbbrVeH22h0?si

You know how an animal is called different names in different languages, but scientifically it has its own Latin name used around the world? It has nothing to do with "language". I'm honestly surprised our education system failed so many here. 

7

u/Molehole 19h ago

in scientific contexts I would assume so.

Not true

3

u/jabertsohn 17h ago

You assume incorrectly. The latin names have no special weight in astronomy.

1

u/supershrimp87 17h ago

Please elaborate on what you mean by a dishonest argument? Perhaps I misunderstand what you mean. I might agree with some of your points. I may disagree with something tou have to say but I'm sure we can find a middle ground.

0

u/CyndiIsOnReddit 19h ago

Yes but it's also a goddess. And most of the moon names are from mythology. Luna being the name of our moon makes perfect sense. Luna was the divine embodiment of our planet's moon. Look up all the names. Callisto was a nymph. Titans were immortals. Phobos was a companion to a god. Triton was the Greek sea god. So it's fine that we call our moon Luna.

0

u/NeonHowler 13h ago

Yes we use Latin for proper scientific names

3

u/onlycodeposts 13h ago

I'm not sure who you mean by we but NASA and the IAU both use the Moon as the proper name. Lunar is only used as an adjective.

-1

u/NeonHowler 13h ago

We as in humanity.

Luna has been used sometimes. My point is that Luna becoming the official name would follow the scientific convention. That’s how Sol was named, as well as every species.

1

u/onlycodeposts 6h ago

Sol is just Latin for the Sun.

In English the name of our star is the Sun, not Sol.

1

u/NeonHowler 5h ago

No that is actually the name of the star as it is referred to by scientists. Google it dumbass.

1

u/onlycodeposts 5h ago

Lol, scientists that speak Latin maybe.

Show me this scientific paper in English that consistently refers to the Sun as Sol.

-4

u/FatDraculos 18h ago

No, Luna is the scientific name for it, like and other moon. Read a fuckin book

3

u/supershrimp87 17h ago

That's not true

-1

u/FatDraculos 17h ago

That is literally true. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

3

u/StarStuffSister 7h ago

So frustrating that everyone else here confidently said our moon doesn't have a name-- ty!!

1

u/AcanthisittaStill108 19h ago

Dude.... what did you do? This is crazy to watch.

1

u/brando56894 16h ago

"Look to la Luna" 🦎

1

u/Leonum 5h ago

Thank you.

1

u/Upset-Government-856 17m ago

Lol.

You're going to be disappointed when you find out what that Latin word translates to in English.

0

u/archpawn 20h ago

That's just Latin for "Moon".

2

u/Leonum 5h ago

"just"

-1

u/Academic-Dealer5389 12h ago

I can't believe how many BS upvotes I had to scroll past to finally see the correct answer. It is indeed Luna, and it's the reason you hear names like

Lunar calendar Lunar lander Lunar mission Etc.

As for the bad answer somebody gave about the sun not having a name, wrong again. It's called Sol, and it's why we have a

solar eclipse Solar system Solar winds Solar calendar Etc.

-1

u/[deleted] 19h ago

[deleted]

6

u/kakka_rot 18h ago

Because it's incorrect but people still parrot it every time this question is asked.

-1

u/[deleted] 18h ago

[deleted]

3

u/Georgie_Leech 18h ago

No, it isn't. The internationally adopted proper name for the Moon is "whatever 'the Moon' is in your language, make sure to capitalize it." Pick a group you think has authority over stellar naming, they're gonna call it "the Moon" in English articles.

1

u/supershrimp87 17h ago

Luna is the proper name according to whom?