What’s in the name Uranus?

FAS Astronomers Blog, Volume 32, Number 5.

William Herschel was the most famous astronomer of the eighteenth century. So much so, that Heinz Pagels called the first major section of his book Perfect Symmetry as “Herschel’s Garden.”

On March 13, 1781, Herschel accomplished something that no one else had done in modern times. He discovered a new planet. Initially, he didn’t think it was a planet. He thought he’d discovered a new comet, however the object’s color (aqua blue) and disk shape indicated something different. His report to the Royal Society described it as a comet, but he did emphasize the object’s planet-like characteristics.

Over the next few months, other astronomers, including Anders Lexell and Johann Elbert Bode tracked the new object and recognized its circular-like orbit. By 1783, Herschel agreed and officially reported the discovery of a new planet to the Royal Society.

The new planet needed a name. To gain favor of the English King George III, Herschel proposed Georgium Sidus (Georgian Star). Those outside of England hated it, and many of those folks hated England as well – the American colonies and France to name a few. It also didn’t fit into the accepted naming conventions of using mythological figures. Bode proposed a different name (Uranus). Uranus was the god of the sky from Greek mythology, often associated with Gaia, the goddess of the Earth. At the time, this was still a small break from tradition, where Roman, not Greek, names were used for the planets. However, it stuck, and the new planet became Uranus.

Herschel went on to discover the two largest moons of Uranus in 1787. Not to be denied, he, or possibly his son John, decided to name them after the queen and king of the fairies, Titania and Oberon, in Shakespeare’s A Mid Summer’s Night Dream. Two more moons were discovered by William Lassell in 1851. At the suggestion of Herschel’s son John, they became Ariel and Umbriel from The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope. Ariel is a character in Shakespeare’s the Tempest as well. Miranda, discovered by Gerard Kuiper in 1948, is also from The Tempest. It is now more or less official, moons orbiting Uranus are named after characters from Shakespeare, except for Ariel and Umbriel, which are from The Rape of the Lock.

With the naming of Uranus, one of the most controversial issues in astronomy began. Okay, it is not as important as the planetary status of Pluto, but one that still resonates today. How do we pronounce the name of this planet?

Let’s see, many of us were taught to say, you-RAIN-us (u-RAN-us). This older pronunciation could also be U-RAY-nus after Uranium, pronounced as U-RAY-nee-em. (see “The Element Uranium.”)

Today, most astronomers say YUR-ah-nus (Ur-a-nus). To help with this pronunciation, Emily Lakdawalla of the Planetary Society suggests that you turn to a friend or a neighbor and call them a “Nuss.” You’re a Nuss.

Technically, both pronunciations are correct, and both can be used. Just try not to say Ur-anus or Urine-us. Please!

The history behind the way we pronounce Uranus isn’t clear. Many think it was changed to avoid the unfortunate reference discovered by many school children. Others suggest that folks in academia (e.g. Carl Sagan and NASA) used YUR-ah-nus, but for the general public, the older you-RAIN-us prevailed. It has just taken a while for the academia pronunciation to take over. One source (Nemo McCay) suggests that it was changed during the fly-by of Voyage 2 in the 1980s because newscasters didn’t want to say something close to Ur-anus. Another (Patrick K. Phillips) points out that the technically correct pronunciation might be something like OOH-ran-ohs from the Greek or Latinization of the Greek.

So, maybe the name George wasn’t so bad. In any event, for those of you reading this, you’re a Nuss. I’ll leave it at that.