The proposers
Urged on by the papers and contests, the suggestions swelled. The precise number of letters and telegrams that swamped Lowell is lost to history. But the observatory received hundreds of them, with some 150 offering the name Pluto, according to a note preserved from Lowell’s secretary, though most of these are nowhere to be found in the archives. With the circus-like atmosphere surrounding the naming, one can imagine much of this correspondence was simply thrown away.
More than 250 letters remain. Many of their authors added fragments of biographical information, so we know they ranged in age from 11 to 78 and included at least 117 men and 86 women. The pool of proposers consisted of students and teachers from elementary school through college, attorneys, ministers, a United States senator, and even a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy.
The letters and telegrams came from 37 of the then-48 states (plus the Alaskan territory), with the most from Massachusetts (49), New York (36), and Pennsylvania (24). Suggestions also arrived from Canada, Germany, Korea, England, and Mexico. They proposed a total of 171 different names, with 13 listed at least five times. Ancient deities dominate this list, following the tradition of planet naming. Of these, six are male and four are female. Many of the latter suggestions came from the increasingly vocal female population, whose status in society was enjoying dramatic improvement at the time. One letter suggested six possibilities (Athena, Juno, Psyche, Circe, Cassandra, and Atalanta) and was signed, “Star-rover, She is not a Feminist.” The author wrote, “For ages men have been the Lords of Creation. Now that women are striving for the top o’ the world it would be regarded as a compliment to the sex to give the new planet a feminine name. It might encourage further exalted aspirations.”
A new era
Another theme of the times, the pursuit of peace, stands out thanks to the multiple suggestions of Pax and Peace. Walter Niehoff, a student at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, compellingly captured this sentiment in his letter to the observatory: “The centuries of the past have been stained with the blood of many dreadful wars. Now the world is experiencing a great change. We are in the beginning of an era that shall be known to our posterity as the beginning of the solution for perpetual world peace. The eyes of all men are now looking toward that goal with a hope as never before.”