# "Sedna"?! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 15, 2004, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedna/234514 "2004-03-15T21:47:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedna/234514/1 "2004-03-15T21:47:12Z")
So, the next mythological figure waiting in line to have a planet named after him/herself was…_Sedna_? Not, by any means. that it had to be a Roman god, like the other planets, but couldn’t they come up with something better than Sedna? Seriously, the GQ here is: who or what is Sedna? Whence the name? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedna/234514/2 "2004-03-15T21:51:12Z")
Sedna is the Inuit goddess of the sea. ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedna/234514/3 "2004-03-15T21:51:21Z")
Scary Inuit sea goddess. Hadn’t thought about her in years, but a good choice for something strange, way out in the cold and dark. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedna/234514/4 "2004-03-15T22:25:58Z")
Hey “Sedna” is not so bad when you consider the planet … “Uranus”. I remember **Isaac Asimov** wrote an essay about that planet but first he had to write a few paragraphs about how badly-named it was. For one thing, it was named after a god almost no one even knew. Second the pronunciation of it was embarassing. As he said most people pronounce it as if they were saying “your anus”. Others he said try the nicer-sounding pronunciation with the stress on the first syllable. Then, he said it sounds like “urinous” which means having the characteristics of … urine. I think Isacc Asimov made a good point. Mr Asimov also thought that elements (especially the Rare Earths) were poorly named. Names such as Dysprosium, Yttrium, Ytterbium, etc were derived form the locations in which they were discovered (mostly Scandinavia). His point being that elements and planets are _extremely_ limited in number and should be given much more thought when it comes tme to give them names. ---
**Author:** ![lexi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lexi/32/6806_2.png) [@lexi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lexi)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedna/234514/5 "2004-03-15T22:54:10Z")
That is my cats name - inuit goddess/demon. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedna/234514/6 "2004-03-15T23:03:33Z")
Hasn’t _anyone_ read “The Barsoom Project”? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedna/234514/7 "2004-03-15T23:40:10Z")
> [@wolf\_meister](#): > > Hey “Sedna” is not so bad when you consider the planet … “Uranus”. > > I remember **Isaac Asimov** wrote an essay about that planet but first he had to write a few paragraphs about how badly-named it was. Asimov was obsessed with badly named things. In the somewhat out-of-date _Atom_, he spends about ten pages bitching about how _positron_ should really be _posi **ton** _, without the ‘r’. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedna/234514/8 "2004-03-16T01:36:03Z")
All I know is that the planets are named after Roman gods, aside from the earth. I’m all for Inuit sea-godesses, don’t get me wrong, but why the heck can’t people just follow the durn tradition and scrape up some insignificant Roman god for the purpose? It’s not like we’re gonna run out. Cheez-it! Inuits are probably perfectly nice people, but must we apply affirmative action to heavenly bodies? Shoot, I’m a pretty politically correct liberal. This is friggin’ irritating. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedna/234514/9 "2004-03-16T01:50:05Z")
**Friedo** Thanks for that information. I didn’t know Isaac Azimov had such an obsession concerning the naming of _everything._ ---
**Author:** ![DevilDan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e495f1/32.png) [@DevilDan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DevilDan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedna/234514/10 "2004-03-16T02:52:15Z")
I happen to think Sedna is a brilliant choice. The story is so delightfully nighmarish and gory. It’s a damned good god origin tale, pretty unique (thought not unlike some other deification myths of the Native Americans). As a mythology buff, I want to ask what people’s suggestions are for a Greco-Roman deity as an alternative to Sedna. As far as Asimov and the Greek-Roman supporters go, I vote for “Nemesis.” Or, nominate some other figure from a different mythological tradition. I nominate “Hel”, the Norse ruler of the icy underworld. (And we still keep the gender “affirmative naming action,” since Hel is a she.) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedna/234514/11 "2004-03-16T03:06:36Z")
I think Arthur C. Clarke proposed “Persephone” as the name for the next planet out from Pluto, since she was Pluto’s wife. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedna/234514/12 "2004-03-16T03:08:14Z")
I’d have pushed for Vulcan, both because he’s a Roman god, and I’m originally from Birmingham, Alabama, where he (usually) looks upon, and, well, you know…Spock. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedna/234514/13 "2004-03-16T03:16:49Z")
Why stick with the classical mythology? Let’s go with some contemporary mythology and name it Yoda or Xena or Wolverine. ---
**Author:** ![c42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a87d85/32.png) [@c42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c42)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedna/234514/14 "2004-03-16T03:19:25Z")
I still like Rupert… teehee ---
**Author:** ![LivingInThePast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19b73/32.png) [@LivingInThePast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LivingInThePast)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedna/234514/15 "2004-03-16T03:23:31Z")
Sedna? Isn’t that Andes spelled backwards? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedna/234514/16 "2004-03-16T03:41:11Z")
[Devo] Whip me, beat me, call me Sedna [/Devo] ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedna/234514/17 "2004-03-16T03:53:57Z")
Greek, Norse, Hindu pantheons … OK. But this one? I dunno, I just can’t get inuit. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedna/234514/18 "2004-03-16T03:56:35Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > Greek, Norse, Hindu pantheons … OK. But this one? I dunno, I just can’t get inuit. You’re going to pay for that one. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedna/234514/19 "2004-03-16T04:25:04Z")
> [@](#): > > WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Astronomers have discovered the coldest and > most distant object ever found in the solar system, a dark and frigid world I think they should call it “Martha”. ---
**Author:** ![owlofcreamcheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@owlofcreamcheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlofcreamcheese)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedna/234514/20 "2004-03-16T05:03:52Z")
it should be ‘nox’ roman god of the night. its perfect, a planet in eternal night. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedna/234514.md?page=2)