Janus is the gate: the word and the god are one. Rome’s oldest gods are not borrowed thunder, they are the farm’s own nouns: the door, the boundary stone, the stored grain, the rust on the wheat. This table holds 56 Roman god names across five strata: the Consentes, the old native gods, the goddesses, the personified virtues, and the imports with their documented dates. The roman goddess family of searches rides the goddesses stratum on this page. Contested etymologies are flagged on the row, and the imports say what they are.
The Greek register is a different page: Greek god names. Same thrones, different receipts.
What are roman god names?
56 real names, five strata, one rule. Each row names who the god is, the documented sphere, and the root where the root is honest. Rome’s register is two ledgers in one table: the native gods (Varro’s di indigetes, the "indwelling" gods) and the imports (the novensides, the newcomers), and the second ledger keeps its receipts in dates: 496 BC for the twins’ vow, 293 BC for the healing snake, 204 BC for the Great Mother’s stone. The stratum stays on every row.
Grouped by stratum. The stratum stays on every row.
Roman god names with builds, meanings and strata
Name
Built from
Meaning
Stratum
Copy
The Di Consentes: the gods of the ancient list; their six goddess colleagues row in the goddesses stratum below, and Apollo rows among the imports: Rome never gave him a Latin name
Jupiter
dyēus + pater (the sky father)
the state’s thunder, the oath of the magistrates; the same old root as Zeus, cousins not copies
Di Consentes
Neptune
? (the sea read is later)
the springs and the water first, the sea by syncretism; root unknown
Di Consentes, contested
Mars
? (root debated; the farm origin theory lives)
March’s father, the field’s guard turned battle-lord
Di Consentes, contested
Vulcan
? (volcanus; maybe the Etruscan Velch tie)
the fire under the ground, the forge’s lord
Di Consentes, contested
Mercury
merx (the merchandise): Rome’s translation of Hermes
the trade-roads’ god, the year’s commerce; the name is a label Rome chose
Di Consentes
The old native gods: the di indigetes: Rome’s own archaic register, gods of gates and grain and boundary stones, most with no Greek counterpart
Janus
? (the door’s own word)
the gate itself, the year’s two faces; no Greek counterpart exists
Di indiges, contested
Saturn
serere (to sow)? the ancient guess
the sower, the golden age’s king, the oldest calendar’s partner to Janus
Di indiges, contested
Quirinus
quiris (the spear)? or the deified Romulus read
the spear-row god of the Quirinal, the founder become a god; parse contested
Di indiges, contested
Terminus
terminus (the boundary stone)
the boundary stone itself, the god who refused to move when the temple was built
Di indiges
Robigus
robigo (the wheat rust)
the rust fungus itself, propitiated each spring so it stays off the grain
Di indiges
Consus
condere (to store away)
the stored grain, the counsel kept underground, the circus floor’s god
Di indiges
Portunus
portus (the harbor)
the harbor and its keys, the Tiber mouth’s guard
Di indiges
Vertumnus
vertere (to turn)
the year’s turning, the shapeshifter who wooed Pomona
Di indiges
Silvanus
silva (the forest)
the forest’s own, the wild edge of the farm
Di indiges
Faunus
favere (to favor)? or fari (to speak)?
the good-hearted wild, the prophecy heard at the farm; parse debated
Di indiges, contested
Pales
? (pasco, to feed?)
the flocks’ guard, the shepherds’ feast of Parilia
Di indiges, contested
Liber
liber (the free)
the free seed, the people’s wine, the plebs’ own festival
Di indiges
The goddesses: the divine feminine: the Consentes six and the native lane beyond them; this stratum is where the roman goddess question lands
Juno
? (the Etruscan Uni tie is debated)
the queen of the gods, the geese of the citadel, marriage’s guardian
Goddess, Consentes
Minerva
men- (the mind)? or the Etruscan Menrva?
the mind’s craft, the school’s patroness, the artisans’ art
Goddess, Consentes, contested
Venus
venus (the charm, the grace): a native Latin root
the garden’s charm, the mother of Aeneas; older than her Greek reading
Goddess, Consentes
Diana
dius (the bright, the daylight)?
the wood’s bright mistress, the hunt, the slaves’ own refuge
Goddess, Consentes, contested
Vesta
wes- (to dwell): the root shared with Greek Hestia
the hearth that never goes out, the state’s own flame
Goddess, Consentes
Ceres
ker- (to grow)? the ancient tie
the grain’s growth, the mother of the plebs, the famine’s law-giver
Goddess, Consentes, contested
Flora
flos (the flower)
the flowers’ own, the spring’s opening games
Goddess
Pomona
pomum (the fruit)
the orchard’s own, the pruning knife, Vertumnus’s bride
Goddess
Bellona
bellum (war)
war herself, the field outside the wall where the spear was thrown
Goddess
Maia
maia (the nurse, the increase)
the increase, May’s own, Mercury’s mother at the Aventine shrine
Goddess
Ops
ops (the plenty, the yield)
the harvest’s plenty, Saturn’s queen, the earth’s wealth on the coins
Goddess
Bona Dea
(the good goddess: her true name unspoken)
the women’s mystery, known only by title; the name itself was the secret
Goddess, title-name
Libera
liber (the free), feminine
the free seed’s sister, Liber’s pair at the shared feast
Goddess
Tellus
tellus (the earth)
the earth itself, the oath’s witness, the wedding’s pit
Goddess
Juventas
iuventus (youth)
youth itself, the boys’ coming of age at the toga
Goddess
Proserpina
proserpere (to creep forth)? the ancient guess
the grain that creeps back, the queen below in the spring
Goddess, imported read
The personified virtues: the abstracta: the word itself is the name, and the state built the altars: a documented Roman name-machine
Clementia
clemens (the merciful)
mercy, the emperor’s advertised virtue on the coins
Personified
Concordia
concors (of one heart)
concord, the temple the plebs and the senate shared after the Struggle of the Orders
Personified
Fides
fides (the trust, the faith kept)
good faith, the pledge taken with the right hand, among the oldest public cults
Personified
Spes
spes (the hope)
hope, the garland of flowers hung at the door
Personified
Pax
pax (the peace)
peace, the altar the empire built after the wars were closed
Personified
Victoria
victoria (the victory)
victory herself, the winged standard of every legion
Personified
Salus
salus (the safety, the health)
the state’s health, the snake fed at her altar
Personified
Honos
honos (the honor)
honor, the general’s unpaid debt, shrines shared with Virtus
Personified
Virtus
virtus (the manly courage)
courage, the son following the father into the line
Personified
Libertas
libertas (the freedom)
freedom, the cap on the pole, the Senate’s coin claim
Personified
Pietas
pietas (the duty)
duty to gods, family and state, the stork’s return
Personified
Iustitia
iustitia (the justice)
justice, the scales and the sword, the later emperor’s statue
Personified
Veritas
veritas (the truth)
truth, the naked one at the well’s bottom; Rome never built her temple
Personified
Disciplina
disciplina (the training)
the soldier’s discipline, the camp’s wall in a name
Personified
Fortuna
fors (the chance, the lot)
fortune, the wheel and the rudder; older than the empire, Etruscan-adjacent
Personified
The imported gods: the receipts are dates and ships: each import is an event the historians recorded; Apollo and Cybele row on the Greek page, their Roman receipts are prose here
Hercules
Hēraklēs (the glory of Hera), via Greek
the strongman at the market altar, the merchants’ oath; worshipped in Rome before the kings fell
Imported, Greek
Castor
? (the shining one?)
the horseman twin, vowed at Lake Regillus in 496 BC: the battle’s thank-you
Imported, Greek, contested
Pollux
polydeukes (much of sweet wine?)
the boxer twin, the shared immortality, the business oath’s pair
Imported, Greek, contested
Aesculapius
asklēpios (the root is unknown)
the healing snake fetched from Epidaurus in 293 BC: a plague’s documented answer
Imported, Greek
Bacchus
bakkhos (the shouting cry)
the vine’s frenzy, Liber’s Greek twin; the Senate moved against his rites in 186 BC and the rites stayed
Imported, Greek
Mithras
miθra (the covenant: Old Iranian)
the tauroctone of the legion camps, the cave’s grades of initiation
Imported, Persian
Sol Invictus
sol invictus (the unconquered sun)
the soldier-emperor’s sun, the December feast the calendar kept
Imported, Syrian lane
Dis Pater
dives pater (the rich father): Varro’s folk guess
the wealth below, the Roman name for the Greek Plouton; the parse is folk-flagged
Imported, Greek read
Roman gods vs Greek gods
Jupiter is not Zeus, and the seam has a name: interpretatio romana. The Romans read the Greek gods through their own, matching throne to throne, but the two registers were never one religion. Jupiter and Zeus share an Indo-European root, which makes them cousins, not copies. Half this table, from Janus through the boundary stones to the personified virtues, has no Greek counterpart at all, and the god the Romans loved with no Latin name, Apollo, is the proof of the traffic: things moved, and the movement was recorded. The deity rows for the Greek side live on Greek god names. Two pages, two registers, both showing their receipts.
The receipts of import
Rome wrote down when its gods arrived, and that ledger is the page’s spine.Castor and Pollux were vowed at the battle of Lake Regillus (496 BC) and the twins were seen watering their horses in the forum, the story the sources tell with a straight face. Aesculapius came as a snake from Epidaurus in 293 BC, imported to end a plague. Cybele came as a black stone from Pessinus in 204 BC, on the Sibylline books’ instruction, and the Senate’s finest family carried her in. Bacchus arrived with rites the Senate tried to ban in 186 BC. Mithras came with the legions from the Persian frontier, and Sol Invictus came with a soldier-emperor. Isis and Serapis of Egypt kept temples in Rome too: their rows live on the Egyptian god names page, their strings not rowed twice.
The goddesses’ stratum
The divine feminine of Rome is two lanes in one stratum, and the roman goddess family of searches is answered here. The Consentes six (Juno, Minerva, Venus, Diana, Vesta, Ceres) row first, then the native lane: Flora of the flowers, Pomona of the orchard, Bellona of the war-field, Maia of the increase, Ops of the yield, and Bona Dea, whose real name was never written down at all, a secret the sources keep as a fact. Proserpina rows as the imported read of Persephone, flagged as such.
Two moon-and-dawn strings are deliberately prose, not rows. Luna and Aurora are rowed across the pet registers and the planet lanes (six pages bank the string Luna), and this page does not row them twice: Diana carries the moon’s hunt, and the dawn belongs to the verse. One string-share is noted honestly: the witch names page rows Minerva as Rowling’s professor, a borrowed given name; this page rows the goddess herself.
The abstracta: Rome’s name-machine
The personified virtues are the most Roman thing on the page: nouns with altars.When the plebs and the senate ended the Struggle of the Orders, they built Concordia a temple: "of one heart" became a god’s name with an address. Clementia went on the coins of Julius Caesar as an advertised virtue. Fides, good faith, ran one of the oldest public cults in the city. Honos and Virtus shared shrines paid for by generals. Libertas got her cap and pole, Pietas her stork, Disciplina her camp wall. The word itself is the name: the etymology column is the whole receipt, and it is unarguable, which is rare in this business.
The planets borrowed the names
Seven rows in this table are the names on seven planets, and the direction of the loan matters. Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Neptune and Ceres were gods first: the astronomers named the wandering lights after the pantheon, and Ceres named the dwarf planet in 1801. The planet register is tabled on planet names, and that page owns the planet strings. This page rows the gods themselves: the thunder, the trade-road, the harvest. Same strings, different registers, both named.
What do roman god names mean?
Three kinds of receipt run through the table. The abstracta are transparent: the word is the name, Pax is peace. The native nouns are near-transparent: Terminus is the boundary stone, Robigus the rust. The great old theonyms are the contested ones, and the rows carry the debate instead of a smooth guess. Eight receipts, one or two per stratum:
Roman god name meaning spotlight
Name
Built from
Meaning
Janus
? (the door’s own word)
the gate itself; no Greek counterpart
Jupiter
dyēus + pater
the state’s thunder, Zeus’s cousin
Venus
venus (the charm): native Latin
the garden’s charm, older than her Greek reading
Terminus
terminus (the boundary stone)
the god who never moved
Concordia
concors (of one heart)
the shared temple of plebs and senate
Cybele
kubebe? (Phrygian)
the black stone of 204 BC
Mercury
merx (the merchandise)
the trade-roads’ god, a chosen label
Maia
maia (the nurse, the increase)
the increase, May’s own
Every one of the 56 rows above carries the same receipt in its own columns.
Roman god names questions, answered
Are these the gods’ real names?
Yes, and the Roman record is unusually bureaucratic about it. There is no single hymnbook like Hesiod; the names come from the antiquarians and the calendar: Varro’s lost Antiquities (summarized by Augustine), Ovid’s Fasti, Cicero’s On the Nature of the Gods, Livy’s histories for the import events, and thousands of inscriptions. Where the parse is ancient guesswork (Saturn as "the sower", Dis Pater as "the rich father"), the row says so: Varro’s guesses are receipts too, labeled as guesses.
Can I use a Roman god name for my pet or a character?
Yes. The Romans themselves put these names on people and things, and the habit never stopped. Juno rows as a cat name and a dog name on the pet pages, Mercury names a superhero and a planet, and Victoria named an empress and half the Victorian era. For characters, the fantasy name generator builds the same register from parts instead of borrowing it whole.
Is there a separate Roman goddess names page?
No: one register, both strata, by design. The goddesses live on this page. Six of them (Juno, Minerva, Venus, Diana, Vesta, Ceres) belong to the Di Consentes list and row in the goddesses stratum; the native lane beyond them, from Flora to Proserpina, rows there too. The roman goddess family of searches is answered right here. The siblings do the same: Greek god names, Egyptian god names and Norse god names.
Where this data comes from.Names, spheres and import dates follow the primary record (Varro’s Antiquities as preserved in Augustine, Ovid’s Fasti, Cicero’s On the Nature of the Gods, Livy) and the standard mythology references. Contested etymologies (Neptune, Janus, Saturn, Quirinus, Juno, Minerva, Diana, Ceres and the twin parses) are flagged in-row; Varro’s ancient guesses (Saturn the sower, Dis Pater the rich father) are labeled as guesses. The planet strings are the deity register here and the planet register on the planet pages. Where every name's receipt comes from →