Entry № 6812 · Greek origin

Metis Metis — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ MEH-tis /
Gender
Girl
Origin
Greek
Meaning
"Wisdom (Greek Titaness; mother of Athena)"
Syllables
2
First recorded
Ancient (Greek)

A name that means "wisdom (greek titaness; mother of athena)".

Metis (Μῆτις) is the Greek word for "cunning wisdom, skill, craft." The Greek Titaness of wise counsel, planning, cunning, and craftiness — Zeus's first wife. An oracle prophesied that any son she bore would be greater than his father, so Zeus swallowed her whole while she was pregnant — Athena was later born fully grown and armored from Zeus's forehead, after Hephaestus split it open with an axe. Metis remains inside Zeus, serving as his counsel — Hesiod tells us that this is the source of Zeus's wisdom.

Wisdom (Greek Titaness; mother of Athena) — a Greek name.

The name in its native script.

Μῆτις
Transliteration
Mêtis
Pronunciation
/ ˈmiː.tɪs /
Root
Grammatical form

Where Metis stands.

Metis does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.

Metiss before her.

Real people
Metis
Greek Titaness.
In fiction
Metis
Hesiod's Theogony.

Names connected to Metis.

The number behind Metis.

3

The Communicator

In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Metis reduce to 3, The Communicator. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.