In January of 2019, there was a Super Wolf Blood Moon. My first impression of the name was awe, and the macabre sounding name stirred visions of werewolves. Did someone pull that name out of a hat? Was the name meant to inspire fear or trepidation? How can I use a similar naming convention in my stories?
If It hasn’t become obvious at this point… Just about everything I find interesting, I want to add to my writing. Where was I?
Moon naming conventions. Let’s start with the first part “Super”.
The moon has an elliptical orbit around Earth. A supermoon is a full moon, or new moon, which occurs with the Moon in perigee (the closest the Moon’s orbit comes to Earth). The opposite, a micromoon is a full, or new moon, which occurs at apogee (the furthest the Moon’s orbit is away from Earth).
Viewing the Moon from Earth with the naked eye, a supermoon appears to be 14% bigger than a micromoon. But, the brightness of the supermoon is 30% more than the micromoon. This change in luminosity is what makes the supermoon so, well, super.
A blood moon is a full moon during a lunar eclipse. On most given nights (or days) the Moon looks like old parchment with greyish marbling. But when the moon slides into the Earth’s shadow, it appears a bit like a copper penny. That reddish tinge gave the moon the poetic name, blood moon.
History of moon names
Our ancestors have used the moon’s cycles to keep track of time. They’d prepare for planting, hunting, and harvest. Cultures the world over, ancient and new, have given the full moon names, based on the world around them. Animals, plants, or weather made impressions on the minds of our elders. These impressions, in turn, gave rise to a kaleidoscope of names for the moon.
If you are making a new world for your series, as I am, you may want to use moon names in place of months. After all, it is your world you could have 15 months to a year, or perhaps eight. Think of the plants and animals in your world, use their names and behaviors to designate moon/month names.
Here are some of the names I found while researching
January: Wolf, Old, Ice, Winter, Stay Home,
February: Snow, Storm, Hunger, Starvation, Trapper’s, Tree, Ice
March: Worm, Chaste, Death, Crust, Sap, Crow, Wind, Plough,
April: Pink, Sprouting Grass, Egg, Fish, Seed, Frog, Awakening, Budding,
May: Flower, Hare, Corn Planting, Milk, Grass, Mother’s, Bright,
June: Strawberry, Rose, Hot, Planting, Green Corn, Mead, Horse,
July: Buck, Thunder, Hay, Summer, Claiming, Herb, Mead,
August: Sturgeon, Green Corn, Grain, Red, Corn, Dog Days, Lynx,
September: Harvest, Corn, Barley, Singing, Wine,
October: Hunter’s, Travel, Dying Grass, Blackberry, Blood,
November: Beaver, Frost, Dark, Tree, Snow, Mourning, Darkest Depths,
December: Cold, Long Night, Oak, Bitter
As my series takes place in an agrarian culture many of the month names will be farm and hunting related.
This is my tentative moon/month list:
Wolf, Horse, Lamb, Berry, Plow, Planting, Harvest, Hunter’s, Fruit, Forest, Cat, Traveler’s, Crow, Desert, Vulture, Book, and Apprentice.
I have not decided on the order of my moons/months, or if all these names will be used, that part of the experience is yet to come.