I don't know how many, but I do know that it is vice versa, planets were named after the gods.

The names we use today for the innermost planets were assigned by the Romans and they named them after their Gods. These included Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The other three planets are not visible to the naked eye, so the Romans didn't know they existed. When modern astronomers did discover them, they stuck with this convention and named these planets after Roman gods as well (Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto). I also remember hearing a story in recent years about an astronomer that thought that he had found a tenth planet. This astronomer broke with convention and name this "planet" after himself. (He who discovers it gets to name it.) Later observations showed that the body was just an asteroid. I guess that's what he gets for breaking with tradition. ;) An addendum needs to be added to this post. With in the past few months another body has been found beyond the orbit of Pluto. Though this discover is still under review, the evidence indicates that this is a legitimate tenth planet. The reports that the discoverer of this "planet" has also broken with tradition and has named it Xena appear to be exaggerated. In reality, Xena was just an internal code name for the body and was never intended to be its permanent name. Assignment of a permanent name is still pending (http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/planetlila/). ********** "Alatea: What about planet Kolob? That's a planet too isn't it - a mating planet." Your comment is irrelevant to this discussion as is your hate-filled prejudice against my religion.

Mercury, ARES- god of war; Venus, APHRODITE- god of beauty and love; Mars, HERMES- messenger of the gods; Jupiter, ZEUS- king of gods, Saturn, CRONOS- Jupiter's father, former ruler of the gods; Uranus- Saturn's father, inital king of the gods; Neptune, POSEIDON- god of the seas (and many other things;) and Pluto, HADES- god of the underworld and riches.