# Significance of names in Matrix series (spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 22, 2003, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-names-in-matrix-series-spoilers/176901 "2003-05-22T21:23:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NardoPolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NardoPolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NardoPolo)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-names-in-matrix-series-spoilers/176901/1 "2003-05-22T21:23:03Z")
Since [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=184142) is already 7 pages long, and this isn’t a question of plot, I figured I’d give this topic its own thread. Several of the names of characters in the Matrix series have had hidden meaning, whether by design or by coincidence. Here are the ones I’ve picked up so far, I have a feeling that there are others that I’ve missed. So please add any others that I’ve missed. Or correct me if I’ve screwed up any of them. **Neo** : [ul]“New”. As in, Neo is the new beginning. He is designed to be the start of the New Zion.[/ul] **The One** : [ul]The only (counting) number that nothing else divides into evenly. The Architect refers to Neo as the “remainder of an unbalanced equation inherent in the programming of the matrix”. In my mind I see a long division problem, with the number 1 as a remainder, which of course can’t be divided away. [wild-ass guess] If Neo is part program and part human, the name “One” would stress the fact that he’s combined the two forms (emotional human/logical program) together to harmoneously still be, well, one. [/wild-ass guess][/ul] **Morpheous** : [ul]The Greek god of dreams. Son of Hypnos or Sleep. In the first movie, I assumed this referred to the fact that he’s the one who offered Neo the opportunity to finally “wake up”. In Matrix Reloaded he has several brief quotes about dreams (“My dream is dead”, etc.).[/ul] **Persephone** : [ul]The daughter of Zeus, captured and taken to the underworld to eventually became the wife of Hades. Seems to fit the stereotype of a “good guy” who fell into bad company.[/ul] **Seraph** : [ul]Seraph is the singular form of Seraphim, which of course is “angel” in Hebrew. He’s assigned the angelic duty of guarding the Oracle.[/ul] Some others that I haven’t quite grasped yet: **Trinity** : [ul]Three of something. The obvious trinity is the Christian Trinity. But the significance of this name escapes me.[/ul] **Nebuchednezzer** : [ul]The king that conquered the Jews and led them _away from Zion_ and into Babylon. So this one seems to not fit with what we know so far; perhaps it will become more clear in Revolutions.[/ul] **Locke** :[ul]I assume this refers to John Locke (1632-1704), the English philosopher and founder of empericism. Empericism = theory of the practice of relying on observation and experiment especially in the natural sciences. The significance of this name escapes me.[/ul] And then of course there’s names like Moroviagan, Nyobi, etc. for which I have no clue. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-names-in-matrix-series-spoilers/176901/2 "2003-05-22T21:27:55Z")
Ah, but Nebuchanezzar was also the dreaming king in the book of Daniel. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-names-in-matrix-series-spoilers/176901/3 "2003-05-22T21:32:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NardoPolo \* > \*\*And then of course there’s names like Moroviagan, Nyobi, etc. for which I have no clue. \*\* Niobe was a queen in ancient Greco-Roman mythology. She was so prideful of her fourteen children she said she was better (more worthy of devotion) than Leto, the mother of Apollo and Artemis. Goddesses don’t care much for comparisons. Leto sent Apollo and Artemis to kill all of Niobe’s children. Niobe watched the deaths of her children and eventually wept so much she turned into a stone with a constant spring of water issuing forth. No idea is this related to Matrix. Did Cpt. Nyobi have children? ---
**Author:** ![NardoPolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NardoPolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NardoPolo)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-names-in-matrix-series-spoilers/176901/4 "2003-05-22T21:53:00Z")
> [@](#): > > _pravnik said:_ > Nebuchanezzar was also the dreaming king in the book of Daniel. Expand on that. What did he dream? I understood that Daniel portrays him as a nutcase, though I only have it second-hand. ---
**Author:** ![Fibber\_McGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a6a055/32.png) [@Fibber\_McGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fibber_McGee)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-names-in-matrix-series-spoilers/176901/5 "2003-05-22T22:22:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NardoPolo \* > \*\*And then of course there’s names like Moroviagan, Nyobi, etc. for which I have no clue. \*\* I’m not entirely sure myself, but the name Merovingian appears to in some way be connected with the Gnostic Church, the Order of Templars and the Holy Grail. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-names-in-matrix-series-spoilers/176901/6 "2003-05-22T22:47:09Z")
The Merovingian is a name that refers to a line of kings in medieval Europe, founded by Merovee and including Clovis. They have a great deal of mystical significance, which I can barely begin to go into in one post… they are supposedly descended from Jesus Christ and will be the line from which the Antichrist springs. Check out this link for some info: [http://www.21stcenturyradio.com/merovingian-twyman.htm](http://www.21stcenturyradio.com/merovingian-twyman.htm) How about the name Bane? Seems pretty significant, considering that he now harbors Smith, who is the bane of Neo’s existence? I wonder if the other Ones all had different combinations of the letters O-N-E… Eno, Noe, Eon. Oen… so Neo is fifth and last possible combo of those three letters without repeating a combo or spelling “One.” Interesting. I wonder if that was intentional. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-names-in-matrix-series-spoilers/176901/7 "2003-05-22T22:49:47Z")
Here’s one that I haven’t seen mentioned yet: **Agent**. In Artificial Intelligence lingo, an _intelligent agent_ is roughly a program or being capable of doing all the things we associate with AI. [This definition](http://www.arcs.ac.at/publik/fulltext/lepuschitzg_dipl/node67.html) says that agents must be autonomous (able to make independent decisions), interactive (communicating with other agents), reactive (able to respond to stimuli), and proactive (able to act on their decisions). ---
**Author:** ![Stentor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Stentor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stentor)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-names-in-matrix-series-spoilers/176901/8 "2003-05-22T22:52:57Z")
The Merovingians were a dynasty of french kings who were, according to some legends, descended from Christ. My personal theory is that he was the previous “One”. It fits in with the theme of “the One” as a Christ figure. He claims to have lived for a very long time, and certainly has considerable resources, as well as the the sort of attitude you would expect from someone who was forced to reboot the matrix in the distant past. ---
**Author:** ![NardoPolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NardoPolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NardoPolo)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-names-in-matrix-series-spoilers/176901/9 "2003-05-22T23:03:12Z")
> [@](#): > > _Rubystreak said:_ > How about the name Bane? Seems pretty significant, considering that he now harbors Smith, who is the bane of Neo’s existence? Good catch. Bane = killer, death, destruction. Possibly not only of Neo but of everything. I hadn’t noticed that Neo is a anagram of One. Quite slick. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_of\_the\_CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Earl\_of\_the\_CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_of_the_CC)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-names-in-matrix-series-spoilers/176901/10 "2003-05-22T23:33:08Z")
**Stentor** , I am pretty sure that the Merovingian is a program. He didn’t even seem to understand the great abilities of Neo (didn’t expect him to be able to stop bullets etc.). ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-names-in-matrix-series-spoilers/176901/11 "2003-05-22T23:52:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NardoPolo \* > \*\*Expand on that. What did he dream? I understood that Daniel portrays him as a nutcase, though I only have it second-hand. \*\* 2 dreams, in fact - For the first, he didn’t remember. He dreamed a dream, it bothered him, but the details were gone. Daniel came up with the dream - a huge statue, it’s head was gold, it’s torso was silver, abs were bronze, legs of iron, feet of iron mixed with clay. A big rock came, hit the statue at it’s feet and the whole statue fell into tiny little pices. The interpretation is that each section of the statue was a kingdom (he was the gold head, the next kingdom down was silver, etc.) and they’d all fall. (Daniel 2) The second dream was of a great big tree, animals playing on it, idyllic scene, etc. Then there was a voice that said to cut down the tree and chain it, but not kill it entirely. The interpretation of it was that Nebuchadnezzar was going to go insane for a while, and live like the animals. Eventually, he went insane for several years (Daniel 4). I think (just saw it) Daniel 2:3 is quoted in the movie … or it sounded familiar when I heard it, but as I no longer remember the exact words, I can’t say for sure. ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-names-in-matrix-series-spoilers/176901/12 "2003-05-23T04:25:38Z")
Link was the name of the new operator for the Neb, IIRC. A link is something that connects two things together. Maybe he will be replaced in Revolutions, thus becoming the link between Tank and the new operator, though I doubt this. A [link](http://www.thematrix.com) is also something on the internet that takes from one place to another place. Maybe this is indicating the way he takes them in and out of the matrix via phone lines. Cypher (the name of the one who makes a deal with the agents in the first movie) means a code. Maybe because he helps them get the codes to Zion’s mainframe. Again, I doubt this. After I saw the first movie, I found a site that had pretty good analysis of some of the small details in the movie, including the characters’ names, but I can’t find it now. It said something about how there was a “trinity” which including Trinity, Neo and Morpheus, and sort of explained how Trinity’s name comes from that, but I don’t really remember it. ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-names-in-matrix-series-spoilers/176901/13 "2003-05-23T04:29:34Z")
This seems too obvious to me, but **Neo** is an anagram of **One**. Not that that’s very deep or anything, but I’m sure it was intentional. I’m not one of those who thinks _The Matrix_ works on a deep thought level, but I do enjoy the movies anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-names-in-matrix-series-spoilers/176901/14 "2003-05-23T04:43:04Z")
Does anyone know anything about Apoc? He’s the only one of Morpheus’s crew whose name doesn’t mean anything else, as far as I know. ---
**Author:** ![Vorae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@Vorae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vorae)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-names-in-matrix-series-spoilers/176901/15 "2003-05-23T04:45:15Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Avalonian_ > **I’m not one of those who thinks _The Matrix_ works on a deep thought level, but I do enjoy the movies anyway.** I’m not one of those, either, but I do think _The Matrix_ tries to work on that level, which I appreciate. That said, direct allegory is a little too forward for my tastes. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-names-in-matrix-series-spoilers/176901/16 "2003-05-23T04:55:27Z")
The captain of the _Osiris_ is “Thaddeus”, presumably named for the apostle Jude Thaddeus, regarded by Catholics as the patron saint of desperate situations and lost causes. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-names-in-matrix-series-spoilers/176901/17 "2003-05-23T05:10:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*Achernar: \*\*Does anyone know anything about Apoc? He’s the only one of Morpheus’s crew whose name doesn’t mean anything else, as far as I know. I imagine it’s short for “Apocalypse”, from the greek _apokalupsis_, “lifting of the veil.” People generally take it to mean “The end of the world,” but it means “revelation.” I guess either definition would satisfy someone who’d just been pulled out of the Matrix by the bloke. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-names-in-matrix-series-spoilers/176901/18 "2003-05-23T05:13:52Z")
> [@](#): > > Does anyone know anything about Apoc? Before the spelling, I guess it was Epoch, like an era. But if Apoc is short for anything, I’d bet you it’s Apocalypse. I wouldn’t take some of these quite so literally. Some of them just sound cool and roughly fit the themes (computers and other such weirdness). Amarinth: is the line you’re thinking of something like “I have dreamed a dream, and now that dream is gone from me?” Morpheus says that when the ship is destroyed - I knew it had to be a quote from something (guessed the Bible), but I couldn’t find it… my friends got nervous he was about to start singing something from _Les Miz_. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-names-in-matrix-series-spoilers/176901/19 "2003-05-23T05:57:49Z")
**Amarinth** has it- Dan 2:3-5: > [@](#): > > And the king said unto them, _I have dreamed a dream_, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream. > Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack, O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation. > The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, _The thing is gone from me_: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill. Huh huh. “Dunghill.” Huh huh. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-names-in-matrix-series-spoilers/176901/20 "2003-05-23T06:01:50Z")
Yep. That would be the quote! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-names-in-matrix-series-spoilers/176901.md?page=2)