Recent posts have mentioned both Isis and Anubis, and these names made me wonder — which other ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses are hiding in the U.S. baby name data?
After some searching, here’s what I came up with:
- Aker, a god of the earth and underworld.
- Amun or Amon, king of the gods; later combined with the sun god Ra to become…
- Amunra (Amun-Ra), chief deity of the Egyptian Empire.
- Amunet, a primordial goddess.
- Anat, originally a Semitic war goddess.
- Ash, the god of oases and vineyards.
- Aten, a solar deity represented by “the solar disk emitting rays terminating in human hands.”
- Atum, a god of creation.
- Horus, the falcon-headed god of the sky; symbol of kingship.
- Imhotep, a priest of Heliopolis who was later deified.
- Khepri, the scarab-headed god of the morning sun.
- Maat (Ma’at), the goddess of truth, justice, and cosmic order.
- Meret (meaning “beloved”), a goddess associated with rejoicing.
- Osiris, the (often green-skinned) god of fertility; ruler of the underworld.
- Ptah, a god of creation.
- Ra, sun god.
- Set or Seth, god of storms, disorder, warfare — “in general, a trickster.”
- Shai, a god of fate.
- Tayt, goddess of weaving.
Which Egyptian god/goddess name makes the best baby name, do you think?
Sources: List of Egyptian Deities, Egyptian Gods – The Complete List, Aton – Egyptian god – Britannica, Seth – Egyptian God – Britannica
I like the name Meret. I think it has a lovely meaning. It’s unique, but similar enough to Merritt (and Merrick & Meredith) that it would not be a ‘weird’ name that would get a kid constantly teased or require an explanation every five minutes.
Ash is not bad, but it just sounds more like it is a nickname for Ashley, Ashton, Asher, etc than it does a stand-alone name.