The reference to bears is actually related to the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.
At first glance, the logic seems solid. Polar bears inhabit the Arctic, while Antarctica is famous for having no bears. The word Arctic comes from the Greek arcticwhich means “related to the bear”, while Antarctica translates as “opposite of the bear”.
This curiosity may lead many to assume that the names Arctic and Antarctic are directly linked to where bears live or not. The reality is much stranger and much more astronomical.
The origins of these names are prior to human exploration serious of Antarctica. At the time, there was no scientific knowledge about the continent’s wildlife, much less the knowledge that penguins and polar bears live on opposite ends of the Earth. So what inspired bear-based terminology?
The answer is not on Earth, but in the night sky.
Ancient Greek astronomers named the northernmost regions of the world after tribute to a constellation prominent: Ursa Major, in Latin, “the Great Bear”. The constellation, visible year-round in the Northern Hemisphere and especially clear in spring, has been a cultural reference point for civilizations throughout history. As Ursa Major surrounds the North Celestial Pole, the regions beneath it were described as arktikós — places “near the bear”.
A smaller neighboring constellation, Ursa Menor or “the Little Bear”, reinforced the association. Together, these stellar patterns shaped the way early astronomers and geographers described the northernmost parts of the planet.
By extension, the lands located on the opposite side to the north “related to the bear” were called anti-arcticthat is, Antarctica. This naming convention was purely geographic and celestial, not zoological.
The overlap with real-world bears is a coincidence that later turned out to be remarkably useful. Adding another layer of linguistic irony, the scientific name for the bear genus is Ursus. The scientific name of the brown bear, Ursus arctos, translates as “bear-bear”, an unintentionally comical expression that mixes Latin and Greek.
So no, Antarctica didn’t get its name because it doesn’t have polar bears, but it turns out to be a convenient way to remember where they live.
