Is Earth an appropriate name for our planet ...

... whose most defining feature is water?

Liquid water and the water-associated biological systems are really what make Earth notable as a planet.

Now, "earth" does have symbolic meaning to human kind (soil being symbolic as the beginning and end of life). Yet, in light of modern knowledge it seems like a major FAIL that we named our planet after its most mundane feature. Earth can be found on any planet with a surface (all planets?), as well as most all asteroids. For the sake of the argument I won't mention all the cosmic dust and other "sub planet" matter.

Why not name this planet "Water"?

Why not name this planet "Gaia?"

Why not "Bluebert?" Bluebert may sound silly, but it's much more appropriate a name than "Earth."

EDIT: Sorry to see this board has become a bit dead. OT always had its "warts," but was still a great internet community.

Oh no, earth is no longer politically correct, initiating panic mode!!

I know what to call earth: the place to be

Seriously though, If I were to decide on another name for this mud ball it'd be Terra. Its preexisting and can be found in different sci-fi works so its not like I'm being pretentiously original or anything. But earth is fine and doesn't warrant a change not until we as a race break free into outer space and succeed in terraforming another planet at which point a rebranding of earth is a must.

I understand political correctness has a tendency to rub people the wrong way. Still, examining and changing what things are called is a great way to influence future thought. "Earth" is a word of the same "DNA strand" of thought that says the Sun, planets, and sky revolve around us. Terra is a fine name for our planet. It's easy to pronounce and fits with the other planets' myth-grounded names.

Becoming an interplanetary civilization does seem like a good precedent to renaming our planet. But maybe such a "rebranding" would also be a good early step in that direction.

Luna is a pretty name, too.

I couldn't agree more. The "Moon" is just one of many. That's like calling a person "Human" as a name. Not unique at all.

I myself call our moon Luna regularly. I dislike calling it "the Moon".

Sol.3

I was just teasing I don't think this thought of changing earth's name has anything to do with political correctness. Someone suggested renaming the moon as Luna. Now that's a step I definitely endorse.

"The blues"

Now that's a fitting name.

I really like your "Gaia" idea to be honest =P

Also, in Portuguese Earth is Terra, sun is Sol and moon is Lua (Luna in Spanish).

there's more earth under the oceans

Yeah, this is one of those first world problems. Just remember that the power is yours!

@Master_Live: And that heart is an element?

No . We should call it Omicron Persei 8 and we should be called Omicronians. We should also have a Robot president

Midgard and Terra would be decent names I think.

*sheds a tear*

That would be correct

It is the cold heart.

Umm it is named Luna? Luna is simply moon in latin and Italian.Go to Italy and people will call it Luna.

off topic a bit, it never made any sense to me why in tv and movies planets have numbers in them and the native beings of those planets referred to their homeworld by the number. i always assumed the numbers would have been attached to the planet names by people NOT native to that planet as part of their cataloging system. people on earth wouldn't say "i'm from earth 1" or "i'm from sun 3" ( assuming star name and orbital position ). they'd just say "i'm from earth"

I always find those comments funny. "Let's call the Earth Terra, the Sun Sol and the Moon Luna"...so basically call the earth Earth, the sun Sun and the moon Moon. Sounds great!

@korvus: I blame the American education system.

@ferrari2001: It's those Latin based languages and the bastards who speak them...they're out trying to confuse everyone!

Mongo, Endor, Alderaan, Tatooine, you choose.

Moon is english.

Luna is Latin. So if were speaking Spanish, Italian or Romanian right now, we would just be saying Luna when talking about that white ball in the nigh sky.

Moon- Spanish, Italin, Romania: Luna.

So when you say "I wish we..." you got to specify what is the "we" you are talking about.

Name is the least of the problem, Earth needs more Rings.

Lets just make it middle-earth again.

Well, water actually makes up very little of the earth's composition, so Earth is still fitting.

I've always wanted to name it Bob, personally. It does rather look like a Bob.

Moon should be Luna, our sun should be Sol

We wouldn't have even evolved into what we are if the earth wasn't present though.

Move to Spain and you got your wish.

some random fact: the origin of the word seems German "aarde" according to http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=earth

However, the Arabic word for Earth is also "aarde"

Some linguists seems to think both German and Arabic got the word from a 3rd unknown older language.

Well, if Earth isn't your cup of tea, may I recommend that you refer to it as Terdi instead?

You could use the latin name for it, Terra.
But our planet doesn't have an official name.

Doesn't "luna" literally mean "moon"? If so, by calling it Luna you're still just calling it the moon.

We should rename earth to dick. Because it loves to be a giant dick.

Should be called America.

The fact that America occupies nearly all of the world yeah why not? while we are at it why not have a holographic image of the Flag on the Moon?

Gaia is Earth.

And by your logic Earth should be called Metal or Iron or something, considering it's mostly made up of it.

If we were to change the name of the planet, it should mean something symbolic. It doesn't sound epic but I'd name it Hum (means "us" in my language and Hum-ans would be befitting ).

Who cares? There are more important things to care about, like farting in church.

Earth should be called .........

Gorgoroth

Golgotha

Dunia

Ozama

Yes, H2o should be the new name ! Or something of that sort.

Why not Mantle? Isn't that it's most voluminous element?