Why are ancient names like those belonged to the Pharaohs so different, where do they come from, and what do they mean?

Question

Tutankhamun sounds alien to me

In: Culture

Answer 1

Probably most Ancient Egyptian names would sound alien to us, as they are from a language that evolved over a nearly 2,000 year span which predates most modern languages and which is only now used in very, very limited Coptic religious circles.

In reality, the word “Tutankhamun” is nothing too foreign – it means “Living image of Amun”. His birth name was actually Tutankhaten – the living image of Aten.

Lots of Egyptian names were spiritual like this, or sometimes even just adjectives (like “Neferet” means “beautiful woman”).