You’ve seen it a thousand times. Hanging there in the night sky, sometimes a sliver, sometimes a giant glowing orange marble. It’s the thing that drives the tides, confuses your sleep schedule, and has inspired roughly a billion love songs. But if you’re sitting there wondering about the specific, official name of the moon of earth, the answer is usually a bit of a letdown for people expecting something exotic like "Astraea" or "Selene."
The name is just the Moon.
Capital M. That’s it.
It sounds lazy, right? Like naming your firstborn "Child" or your golden retriever "Dog." But there is a massive historical and scientific reason why our satellite doesn’t have a fancy designation like the moons of Jupiter (looking at you, Ganymede). Honestly, it all comes down to the fact that for most of human history, we didn’t even know other moons existed. We thought our neighbor was a one-of-a-kind original.
Why the name of the moon of earth isn’t more creative
Back in the day—we’re talking pre-1610—the concept of a "moon" as a category of celestial object didn’t exist. People looked up and saw the Sun and the Moon. They were singular entities. It wasn't until Galileo Galilei pointed his crude telescope at Jupiter and saw four little dots dancing around it that everything changed. He realized those were satellites. Suddenly, our "Moon" wasn't the only one.
The International Astronomical Union (IAU), which is basically the principal referee for naming things in space, maintains that the official English name is the Moon. In Latin, it’s Luna. This is why you hear terms like "lunar eclipse" or "lunar module." If you’re speaking Italian or Spanish, you’re calling it Luna. In French, it's Lune. But in the hallowed halls of professional astronomy, when you are talking about the specific rock orbiting the third planet from the sun, you capitalize the "M" to distinguish it from the generic moons orbiting other planets.
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It’s a distinction of orthography. A "moon" is any natural satellite. The "Moon" is our backyard neighbor.
The "Luna" vs "The Moon" Debate
A lot of sci-fi fans and space enthusiasts get really heated about this. They want us to call it Luna because it sounds cooler, more "galactic." And while you’ll see "Luna" used in plenty of NASA technical documents or planetary science papers to avoid confusion, it isn’t the official English name.
Think about it like this: The Sun’s name is the Sun. We use the word "Solar" (from the Latin Sol) to describe things related to it, but we don't usually call it Sol in casual conversation. The same logic applies here.
We have a bit of an ego problem as a species. We named our planet "Earth," which basically just means "dirt," and we named our satellite "Moon," which comes from ancient Germanic roots meaning "month" or "measure," because it was how we tracked time. We were very literal.
How other cultures see it
It's worth noting that "the name of the moon of earth" changes depending on where you're standing on the globe.
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- In Chinese mythology, you have Chang'e, the goddess of the Moon.
- The Greeks had Selene and Artemis.
- The Egyptians looked up and saw Thoth or Khonsu.
But if you are filing a flight plan for a rocket at SpaceX or Blue Origin today, the destination on the paperwork is going to say "The Moon."
What makes our Moon so weird anyway?
Beyond the name, our Moon is a bit of a freak of nature. Most moons in our solar system are tiny compared to the planets they orbit. Mars has Phobos and Deimos, which are basically lumpy space potatoes. But the Moon is huge—about one-fourth the diameter of Earth.
The leading theory, the Giant Impact Hypothesis, suggests that about 4.5 billion years ago, a proto-planet roughly the size of Mars (named Theia) slammed into the young Earth. The debris from this catastrophic "bad day" eventually coalesced into the Moon. This explains why the Moon’s composition is so similar to Earth’s crust. It’s basically a piece of us that got knocked off and decided to hang around.
The naming of the Moon's features
While the Moon itself has a simple name, the stuff on it has some of the most poetic names in science. When you look at the dark spots on the lunar surface, those are called "maria," which is Latin for "seas." Early astronomers actually thought they were bodies of water.
They aren't. They’re ancient basaltic plains formed by volcanic eruptions.
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You’ve got the Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility), where Apollo 11 landed. Then there's the Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms), which is the largest of the maria. Even the craters have a naming convention. Most are named after deceased scientists, explorers, and artists. There’s a crater named after Copernicus, one for Tycho Brahe, and even ones for more modern figures.
Does the name really matter?
In the grand scheme of the universe, names are just things we use to keep our charts organized. Whether you call it the Moon, Luna, or a "giant night light," its impact on our existence is undeniable. It stabilizes our planet's wobble, which keeps our climate relatively steady. Without it, Earth might tilt wildly, making life as we know it nearly impossible.
As we look toward the Artemis missions and the goal of establishing a permanent human presence up there, the name might start to feel even more personal. It won't just be a thing in the sky; it’ll be a workplace. A home.
Actionable Steps for Lunar Observation
If you're interested in more than just the name of the moon of earth and want to actually see what makes it special, you don't need a multi-million dollar telescope.
- Get a pair of 10x50 binoculars. Most people think they need a telescope, but binoculars are actually better for beginners. They provide a wider field of view and let you see the "relief" of the craters along the terminator line (the line between light and dark).
- Download a Moon Map app. Apps like Lunascope or even Google Moon can help you identify exactly which "sea" or crater you are looking at in real-time.
- Track the Terminator. Don't look at the Moon during a full moon. It’s too bright and looks "flat" because there are no shadows. The best time to see detail is during a quarter moon when the shadows are long and highlight the depth of the craters.
- Check the "Earthshine." Sometimes, when there’s just a thin crescent, you can see the ghostly outline of the rest of the Moon. That’s light reflecting off Earth, hitting the Moon, and coming back to your eyes. It’s a literal reflection of our own planet.
The Moon remains the only celestial body humans have actually set foot on. While the name is simple, its history is a violent, beautiful mess of physics and ancient mythology. Whether you're calling it Luna or the Moon, just make sure you take a second to look up tonight. It’s a lot more than just a rock; it’s the reason we’re here.