For instance, is Neptune called Neptune in German? I realize that all of the planet’s names come from ancient origins, so I guess my real question is, did the planets ever have different names? Does any of this make sense?
In the spanish speaking world:
Mercurio, Venus, La Tierra, Marte, Jupiter, Saturno, Urano, Neptuno, Pluton
BTW, days of the week are:
Lunes, Martes, Miercoles, Jueves, Viernes, Sabado, Domingo
And months:
Enero, Febrero, Marzo, Abril, Mayo, Junio, Julio, Agosto, Septiembre, Octubre, Noviembre, Diciembre
The following page gives the planetary names for many,many countries http://www.seds.org/billa/tnp/days.html
Incidentally Uranus was called “George” by its discoverer William Herschell, well actually “Georgium Sidus” ( The Georgian planet ).
This was basically a bit of crawling the the King GeorgeIII and not surprisingly was not too popular in other parts of the world: it was Johann Bode who called it Uranus, so amusing generations of school boys.
ahem."…to the king"