The following page compiles the meanings of various ancient Egyptian names. (I was frustrated at how long it took me to find the meaning of a common name and decided to start a compilation.)
Many (though not all!) Egyptian names are theophoric; that is, “god-bearing”. They contain the name of a god and say something about that god. A lot of these names are “templates” in that you’ll see multiple identical names differing only by god: for example, Amenhotep, Rahotep, Khnumhotep, etc. For such names, I am including three underscores where a god’s name might go. The above examples all fall under “___hotep”.
In cases where a theophoric name has a gender marking (e.g. Mery(t), Djed___iu{f/es}ankh), the gender is determined by that of the person, not the deity. A man beloved by the goddess Neith is Meryneith; a woman beloved by the god Amun is Meritamun.
| Name | Gender | Transliteration | Variant spellings | Meaning | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mery___ | M | mry ___ | Meri___ | “beloved of ___” (masc.) | https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/names/ |
| Meryt___ | F | mry.t ___ | Merit___ | “beloved of ___” (fem.) | https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/names/ |
| ___mose | M F? | ___ ms ___ ms sw | ___mes ___meses ___messes | “___ is born” or “born of ___” | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amenmesse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramose https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramesses_(Egyptian_name) |
| Nofret | F | nfr.t | Nefret | “beautiful”, “good” (fem.) | https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/names/ |
| Nodjem | M | nḏm | Nedjem, Nudjem | “sweet” (masc.) | Derived from feminine at https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/names/ |
| Nodjmet | F | nḏm.t | Nedjmet | “sweet” (fem.) | https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/names/ |
| Hatshepsut | F | ḥꜣt-šps.wt | “Foremost of noble ladies” | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatshepsut https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/names/ | |
| ___hotep | M F? | ___ ḥtp | ___hetep | “___ is satisfied” | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amenhotep_III |
| Djed___iufankh | M | ḏd ___ ꞽw.f Ꜥnḫ | Djed___efankh | “___ says: Let him live!” | https://www.ashmolean.org/djed-djehuty-iuef-ankh-mummy#/ |
| Djed___iuesankh | F | ḏd ___ ꞽw.s Ꜥnḫ | Djed___esankh | “___ says: Let her live!” | Derived from masculine at https://www.ashmolean.org/djed-djehuty-iuef-ankh-mummy#/ |