# name of our planet- earth or terra? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 18, 2002, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-our-planet-earth-or-terra/124526 "2002-08-18T23:49:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mnemonic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@mnemonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemonic)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-our-planet-earth-or-terra/124526/1 "2002-08-18T23:49:04Z")
I was just reading the Venus thread and I thought, is the official name of our planet Earth or Terra? You hear land being called terrain or earth. Earth seems to be what’s used in all of the science documents, but I’ve heard the word Terra used in some special cases. Is there no official name? ---
**Author:** ![heresiarch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@heresiarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heresiarch)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-our-planet-earth-or-terra/124526/2 "2002-08-19T00:04:25Z")
HERESIARCHIA! Sheesh! Why can’t people get it right? ---
**Author:** ![mapsmith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/848f3c/32.png) [@mapsmith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mapsmith)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-our-planet-earth-or-terra/124526/3 "2002-08-19T03:51:55Z")
Gaia ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-our-planet-earth-or-terra/124526/4 "2002-08-19T03:54:02Z")
[Do other languages call Earth “Earth”?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mearth.html) There’s no “official” name for the third rock from the sun because there are about 7,300 human languages and dialects currently being spoken on said third rock from the sun–which one should be the “official” language? ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-our-planet-earth-or-terra/124526/5 "2002-08-19T04:18:06Z")
You could say that, but then, you might as well say there’s no official name for any celestial object. In English, anyway, “Earth” is by far the best choice for an official name. The only time I see “Terra” used is in works of science fiction. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-our-planet-earth-or-terra/124526/6 "2002-08-19T10:38:19Z")
I’ve always just called it “Joe”, myself. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-our-planet-earth-or-terra/124526/7 "2002-08-19T12:11:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Achernar \* > \*\*You could say that, but then, you might as well say there’s no official name for any celestial object. In English, anyway, “Earth” is by far the best choice for an official name. The only time I see “Terra” used is in works of science fiction. \*\* I’ve always assumed “terra” was Latin for “earth” meaning “Earth” or “earth.” Hence “terra firma” - dry (well, solid) land. Spanish is similar – “tierra firme” or something like that (I don’t write Spanish well yet). So in English, “Earth.” In Latin “terra.” Kind of like calling the sun “Sol.” I’ve only every really seen it _seriously_ called this in science fiction, like **Achernar** says. We’d look like dorks using the Latin name: “Gee, Benny, isn’t Sol spectacularly beautiful today?” I imagine a lot of the difference between naming of celestial objects (not including the sun and the moon) and the earth (including the sun and the moon) is the historical perspective of our place in the universe. ---
**Author:** ![maralinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@maralinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maralinn)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-our-planet-earth-or-terra/124526/8 "2002-08-19T23:58:28Z")
Reminds me of one of the few things I like about Asimov’s Foundation series – the reference to the name of the human home planet as “Dirt.” I think Terra is one of those SF things that writers would _like_ to see become common parlance – also Luna for the moon and Sol for the sun (which make more sense, as they don’t have commonly recognized proper names). ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-our-planet-earth-or-terra/124526/9 "2002-08-20T06:28:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Achernar \* > \*\*You could say that, but then, you might as well say there’s no official name for any celestial object. \*\* IIRC, pretty much all heavenly bodies have “official” names. From [the Nine Planets](http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/days.html#English) site: > [@](#): > > English is generally recognized as the international language for professional astronomy. With regard to official names, the [same site](http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/names.html) says: > [@](#): > > The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is officially in charge of assigning astronomical names and it is very sensitive to astronomical tradition. The second of the above two links is more approriate to the **OP**. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-our-planet-earth-or-terra/124526/10 "2002-08-20T08:03:14Z")
Okay, where did E. E. “Doc” Smith get the idea for calling Earth “Tellus” in his works? ---
**Author:** ![Sparc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Sparc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparc)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-our-planet-earth-or-terra/124526/11 "2002-08-20T13:41:23Z")
Tellus is the Latin name for Gaia; the mother goddess, or ‘earth mother.’