Titanic’s name refers to which figures from Greek mythology? Titanic’s name refers to the Titans, the powerful generation of deities who preceded the Olympian gods. The name was chosen to suggest extraordinary size, strength, and grandeur.
In Greek mythology, the Titans were traditionally described as the twelve children of Uranus, the sky, and Gaia, the earth. Important Titans included Cronus, Rhea, Oceanus, Hyperion, Themis, and Mnemosyne. Their rule ended after Zeus and the younger Olympian gods defeated them in the Titanomachy, a legendary ten-year conflict.
The name also fitted the White Star Line’s naming style for its Olympic-class ships. Olympic and Titanic were intended to project grandeur and superiority, although their names came from different mythological ideas. “Titanic” does not mean that the ship was named after one individual Titan; it refers collectively to the Titans. The adjective later became associated with enormous scale and, ironically, with the ship’s tragic fate.