Ceres Ceres — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

Ceres is from the Latin Cerēs — Roman goddess of agriculture, grain, and fertility — root of the English cereal. A modern American baby name in the broader Roman heritage aesthetic. Ceres in Roman mythology is the Roman counterpart to Greek Demeter — one of the Dii Consentes (Twelve Olympians of Roman religion), mother of Proserpina (Greek Persephone). Central to the Cerealia festival (April 12-19) and the Temple of Ceres on the Aventine Hill (built 493 BCE). Appears in Ovid's Metamorphoses, Fasti, and Virgil's Georgics. The dwarf planet Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt and closest dwarf planet to the Sun — discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi (January 1, 1801) and named in her honor, studied by the NASA Dawn mission (2015-2018).

Featured throughout Roman heritage and astronomy.