Hebrew name meaning 'faithful' or 'trustworthy,' borne by a king of Judah.
Amon—also rendered Amun, Amen, or Ammon—is one of the oldest names still in living use, stretching back to the ancient Egyptian pantheon where *Amun* (meaning "the hidden one" or "what is concealed") rose from a regional deity of Thebes to become the king of the gods during the New Kingdom, syncretized with Ra as the supreme Amun-Ra. Pharaohs bore the name as a divine credential: Amenhotep, Tutankhamun—names built on this hidden, all-pervasive power. The ram and the goose were his sacred animals; his priesthood at Karnak became the wealthiest religious institution in the ancient world.
The name carries a parallel Hebrew thread: in the Hebrew Bible, Amon appears as a king of Judah, son of Manasseh, who reigned briefly and idolatrously before being assassinated by his own servants (2 Kings 21). Despite this fraught biblical episode, the name persisted in Jewish tradition partly through Jeremiah's scribal associate Maaseiah son of Amon. The Greek geographer Herodotus recorded the oracle of Ammon at Siwa—the same oracle Alexander the Great consulted, and where he was reportedly declared son of Ammon, a detail that shaped his self-conception as a divine ruler.
In contemporary culture, Amon gained new resonance through Avatar: The Legend of Korra, where the enigmatic revolutionary leader Amon—a name evoking hidden identity and messianic purpose—became one of animated television's more compelling antagonists. The name today appeals to parents drawn to ancient roots and monosyllabic power: short, deep, and carrying the weight of civilizations.