Moons of Neptune due to its dimness. Triton did not have an official name until the twentieth century. The name "Triton" was suggested by Camille Flammarion in his 1880 book "Astronomie Populaire", but it did not come into common use until at least the 1930s. Until this time it was usually simply known as "the satellite of Neptune". Other moons of Neptune are also named for Greek and Roman water gods, in keeping with Neptune's position as god of the sea: either from Greek mythology, usually children of Poseidon, the Greek Neptune (Triton, Proteus, Despina, Thalassa); lovers of Poseidon (Larissa); classes of minor
Neptune (mythology) of Venilia in childbirth and motherhood. A legendary king Venulus was remembered at Tibur and Lavinium. German scholar H. Petersmann has proposed a rather different interpretation of the theology of Neptune. Developing his understanding of the theonym as rooted in IE *nebh, he argues that the god would be an ancient deity of the cloudy and rainy sky in company with and in opposition to Zeus/Jupiter, god of the clear bright sky. Similar to Caelus, he would be the father of all living beings on Earth through the fertilising power of rainwater. This "hieros gamos" of Neptune and Earth would