Umbriel

Meanings

1. A moon of Uranus

Etymology

All of Uranus’s moons are named after characters created by William Shakespeare or Alexander Pope. The names of all four satellites of Uranus then known were suggested by John Herschel in 1852 at the request of William Lassell, though it is uncertain if Herschel devised the names, or if Lassell did so and then sought Herschel’s permission. Umbriel is the “dusky melancholy sprite” in Pope’s The Rape of the Lock, and the name suggests the Latin umbra (“shadow”); the ending matches Ariel, name of another character.