how come our moon has no name?

Question

all the other planets moons have names why is our moon just called a moon?

Answer 1

Great point!

You can sign a petition to name the moon at the link below.

Actually, all the other moons are named after ours. It's kind of like saying that Hewlett Packard, Brother, Canon, Panasonic, and Ricoh all have xerox machines with brand names, but the Xerox machine in our office just says "Xerox" on it.

Our moon was named "Moon" first, but when Galileo saw Calisto and Io and the rest of the Jovian gang, he didn't think "Gee, Jupiter has it's own large round bodies in orbit around it," he thought "Gee, Jupiter has its own moons" - thereby honoring our Moon when it became the common name for all those other big rocks circling planets.

Or it's kind of like if some aliens had a pet human named "Tina." After having her in their zoo for 15 years, they went to earth and "Wow - there are millions of Tinas here! Some of them have names like Jack and Diane - how come our Tina has no name?"

Answer 2

Our Moon has a name, it is Moon.
Much like our Sun has a name, Sun.

Going back in time man was very short sighted and with the universe revolving around him the general belief was there was only 1 moon and 1 sun.
Science has proven that there are other planets, some have moons.
There also other suns in other galaxy.

Of course we couldn't call Mars' moons, the Moon too, so each of the planets' moons then gained their own name to differentiate them from our own.

So blame man's lack of knowledge at the time it was named.

Answer 3

it's not just a moon it's THE moon. but yeah it needs a name. How bout Shirley or Inzitong.

I guess it's the moon that needs no introduction. Worshipped by countless and forgotten cultures. Steeped in myth and magic. The basis of the word moon. It's been THE moon longer than we even knew outer space or mars.

Answer 4

Because the man on the moon doesn't like people calling him names.

Answer 5

The very name 'Moon' is it's name. When we refer to natural satellites around other planets, we refer to them as 'moons' (not capitalised).

"A natural satellite is a non-man-made object that orbits a planet or other body larger than itself. It is commonly referred to as a moon (not capitalized). The term natural satellite may also refer to a planet orbiting a star, as is the case with the eight or nine planets orbiting the Sun. Earth has one large moon ("the Moon" or "Luna");"

Hope that helps!

Answer 6

Hi, tina j, my name is Hank. Moon is the name of our Moon. Why don't you have a contest to name it? I'm sure there are lots of people whom would oblige you. I believe a contest to name the Moon would generate a lot of responses.

You might even think about petitioning our government to officially name the Moon something. You have posed a salient question, and it deserves to be answered responsibly. There is much merit to your question. You are to be commended for your originality.

Thank you for asking; I have never known of anyone asking that question before. Kudos to you.

Hank Feral

Answer 7

Luna is just moon in Spanish or Latin as the guy before me points out. It doesn't have a name it just is the moon. And it's my moon.

Answer 8

because it has a name. MOON. the moon is a satellite not a moon. moon is just the earth's satellite's name. by the way a satellite is any object orbiting another object.

Answer 9

hard thing. query at search engines like google. just that can help!

Answer 10

I think that is just because our moon was the first one we saw and so we call it "The Moon" and give the others names to distinquish them from ours.