Q How did the oceans of the world get their names? - Emma Wilkinson, Houghton-le-Spring.

A The name of the Atlantic Ocean is first mentioned in the fifth century BC in the works of the Greek writer Herodotus.

He refers to the Atlantic as Atlantis and describes it as a sea beyond the Pillars of Hercules. One of the Pillars of Hercules was at Gibraltar, while the other was erected across the other side of the Gibraltar Strait, in Africa. The Gibraltar Strait is the link between the Atlantic and Mediterranean.

The name Atlantic is linked to both the Greek giant Atlas and the land called Atlantis. Atlantis was allegedly the home to a lost civilisation that occupied land said to have sunk beneath the ocean to the west of southern Spain.

According to the legend, the continent was inhabited by peaceful farmers and fishermen who turned to conquest. The gods punished them with violent earthquakes and volcanoes and sent floods so that their land sunk beneath the sea.

The connection between Atlantis and the Greek giant Atlas is that Atlas is said to have stood in the land of Atlantis when he held up the sky. It is possible that Atlas may have given his name to the land of Atlantis, but whatever the origin, it seems that the Atlantic Ocean is named after this mythical land.

Like the Atlantic, The Arctic Ocean takes its name from a Greek word. The word arktos means bear and refers to the polar constellation of the Great Bear that overlooks the Arctic region.

The Antarctic continent in the southern hemisphere takes its name from the Greek word anti meaning opposite by virtue of its location at the opposite polar region to the Arctic.

The Indian Ocean takes its name from the Indian sub-continent. India was the western name given to the nation of India; the native Hindi name is Bharat.

The name India derives from the great river Indus, which is now mostly in Pakistan.

The Pacific Ocean was first named by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. He was the first white man to enter the ocean in 1620 after sailing around the southern tip of South America via the strait now known as the Strait of Magellan.

It was a very stormy passage but on entering the vast ocean they found the seas calm.

Magellan told his sailors: "Gentleman, we are now steering into waters where no ship has sailed before. May we always find them as peaceful as they are this morning. In this hope I shall name this sea the Mar Pacifico."

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Published: 30/06/2003