Isis

EYE-siss

Egyptian

"throne"

Isis Origin and Meaning

The name Isis is a girl's name of Egyptian origin meaning "throne".

Isis has gone from magical, feminist name on the rise to the forbidden list because of the extremist terror group called ISIS, an acronym for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Unsurprisingly, Isis was one of the fastest-falling names in 2014, dropping 130 ranks to reach #706.

Before the rise of the political group, Isis was best known as the name of the supreme Egyptian goddess of the moon, sky, magic, motherhood and fertility, revived by feminists and others willing to cross into arcane territory. And with the mini-craze for names that start with Is- -- Isabella, Isla -- it was not so surprising that Isis was joining the I crowd.

The ancient Isis, wife of Osiris (who happened to be her brother), was worshiped beyond Egypt into the Greco-Roman world. According to myth, the Nile river floods every year because of Isis's tears of sorrow for the death of Osiris.

In popular culture, Isis has been a character on Stargate and Battleship Galactica, an opera, the title of a Bob Dylan song and the name of several rock bands.

The Isis is the name given to part of the River Thames.

Isis Popularity

• 706 US 2014
• 1491 Nameberry 2024
• 813 Unique 2022
• 74 Netherlands 2012
• 91 Portugal 2014
• 16 Brazil 2023