# What should I name my god/deity **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 14, 2018, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-name-my-god-deity/822953 "2018-10-14T22:57:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2018, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-name-my-god-deity/822953/1 "2018-10-14T22:57:28Z")
I’m inventing a deity! All in fun of course (me being an atheist and all). Anyway I started doodling around with the idea of a winged or feathered gar fish for a T-shirt design. I loosely based it on the Mesoameican feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl: [Quetzalcoatl - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quetzalcoatl) So I decided to draw it in a sort of an Aztec-y style. But what to name my new god? Preferably something that sounds Quetzalcoatly but I’m wide open. ETA: early sketch: [https://s3.amazonaws.com/gs-geo-images/8143ead4-392d-4c3c-863b-944dbfe80ee7.jpeg](https://s3.amazonaws.com/gs-geo-images/8143ead4-392d-4c3c-863b-944dbfe80ee7.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2018, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-name-my-god-deity/822953/2 "2018-10-14T23:18:55Z")
Jesus ------ well at least its Mexican-related even if it has been overused. Ginebig ----- but it sounds a little Jewish. Or dirty. One of the two. I would go maybe Askuwheteau – keeps watch ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2018, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-name-my-god-deity/822953/3 "2018-10-14T23:28:02Z")
Just call it “God”. It’s not like the name is copyrighted or anything. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-name-my-god-deity/822953/4 "2018-10-15T01:33:26Z")
True, but I was hoping for something a little sexier. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-name-my-god-deity/822953/5 "2018-10-15T01:38:06Z")
Sex God. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-name-my-god-deity/822953/6 "2018-10-15T02:10:44Z")
Clunt ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-name-my-god-deity/822953/7 "2018-10-15T02:13:55Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Just call it “God”. > It’s not like the name is copyrighted or anything. The Catholics would disagree. The Thirty Years War was essentially one long trademark dispute that killed a third of the population of the Bohemian, Royal Prussian, and Italian states. They could have avoided all of this if the Catholic Church would have just registered God with the European Union Intellectual Property Office and paid a small fee, and then the Protestant Reformation would have had no recourse but to name their diety Ghod or Godd or Alphonse, indicating that theirs was an off-brand almighty. The Jews were smart, and that’s why there is only one YHWH which no one is sure how to pronounce. And people say patent and trademark law is boring. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-name-my-god-deity/822953/8 "2018-10-15T09:52:23Z")
If you named it the _Visible_ Pink Unicorn you could start massive theological disputes, with all the murder and mayhem that entails. If anyone could be bothered. j ([Invisible Pink Unicorn - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_Pink_Unicorn) if the above makes no sense). ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-name-my-god-deity/822953/9 "2018-10-15T11:56:17Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > True, but I was hoping for something a little sexier. > > 🙂 Kishelëmienk? What can I say? Delaware has the same effect on me that French does on Gomez. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-name-my-god-deity/822953/10 "2018-10-15T14:43:31Z")
Ahura Mazda protégé ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-name-my-god-deity/822953/11 "2018-10-15T14:49:27Z")
Gary ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-name-my-god-deity/822953/12 "2018-10-15T15:45:34Z")
If you add a nesting site in a bushy shrub you could call it: Gar Field Khat ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-name-my-god-deity/822953/13 "2018-10-15T15:48:34Z")
Angra Mainyu ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-name-my-god-deity/822953/14 "2018-10-15T16:00:38Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > If you add a nesting site in a bushy shrub you could call it: > > Gar Field Khat Ha ha. Gar Pheeld Khat! ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-name-my-god-deity/822953/15 "2018-10-15T17:06:53Z")
If you’re going to attract new adherents it would make sense to give your deity a cute cuddly and lovable name - like Chirpy Derpy ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-name-my-god-deity/822953/16 "2018-10-15T17:13:53Z")
I tend to be a literalist, so I googled “flying fish” in Aztec. I found that the language is called Nahuatl and found an English/Nahuatl website that listed “flying fish” as **Michpatlāni**. That would be good enough for me, but you might want to check to see if it needs an affix to be a name or to be the name of a god. Assuming you’re interested in using it. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-name-my-god-deity/822953/17 "2018-10-15T23:38:14Z")
Chocolatl for an Aztec sounding name. Unless you think it is already a god. By the way, the genus of the chocolate tree is Theobroma, Greek for food of the gods (species is cacao). ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-name-my-god-deity/822953/18 "2018-10-16T22:52:34Z")
I have to admit, Chocolatl sounds good. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-name-my-god-deity/822953/19 "2018-10-17T02:11:09Z")
Stranger on a Train ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-name-my-god-deity/822953/20 "2018-10-17T02:27:12Z")
“I’m a god — I’m not _the_ God, I don’t think.” Stranger [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-name-my-god-deity/822953.md?page=2)