The study of Ancient Egyptians throws light on their naming of people. Egypt Names were of utmost importance for them, from the beginning to the end of the ancient Egyptian civilization, the name was the most vital thing a person owned. These names depicted the personality of the person thus named, after his deeds or features.

The time during which they existed and also the deities they believed in. The great value placed upon the name of kings and royalty, therefore made it imperative that they are chosen with great care. It was not just the kings’ who chose Egypt Names carefully, but also the common people, except the latter, did not record the name in a cartouche.

Sometimes, the practice of naming prevalent in ancient Egypt led to a lot of misunderstanding since some pharaohs had more than one or two names and they often altered it upon ascending the throne. There was also the practice of people having different names in different areas of ancient Egypt. For example, Osiris was known by a number of different names in different parts of ancient Egypt.

Egypt Names

A name in Egypt may be a noun or adjective, like Ra would mean satisfied and Neferet meant a beautiful woman. Some ancient Egyptians were named after deities or something that implies a god. For example, the lie, God is gracious, one that God loves. However, the god was a particular one and not used in a general sense of the word. There were a lot of other words and lines inserted in names such as life or ankh, beloved or Mery, beautiful or Nefer, peace or Hotep and Khenemet.

The ancient Egyptians also named girls and boys alike. Often a hieroglyph would be affixed to a name to indicate whether it is masculine or feminine. If the letters “et” is written after the name then it is indicative of the feminine name and pa Sheri or ta Sherit, the latter of which is feminine. Sit is used for daughter and si for a son.

A family was very important to the ancient Egyptian, hence, any person who is venerated and of high honor, that person’s name was named after that person. This ensured that the name stays alive within the family. They often had two Egypt Names. A formal one and one they used normally. The ancient Egyptians also had nicknames for each other. These were a short version or their names or the character of that individual.

The name of a person was more than just a word used to identify that person, it was supposed to give that person the spirit of the name. Names were held to be as essential as the air and water, it infused energy into the person having that name. The names of the ancient Egyptian are excellent for identifying the period during which they lived and died. Names like anything else came in and went out of fashion.