Wahibre

Wahibre is a throne name (prenomen) used by several ancient Egyptian pharaohs. It is part of the royal titulary, the ensemble of names that accompanied a king's birth name in the royal cartouche. The name is sometimes transliterated as Wa-hibre or Wahibre and is closely associated with the sun god Ra.

Etymology and meaning: Wahibre is generally interpreted as an invocation of Ra, with translations offered such as "Ra is strong" or "Powerful is Ra." As with many ancient Egyptian names, exact nuances of meaning can vary among scholars, and the limited surviving inscriptions can complicate precise interpretation.

attestations and usage: Wahibre appears in a relatively small corpus of royal inscriptions and artefacts. Because throne names were frequently reused across different dynasties and rulers, pinpointing the exact bearer of a given Wahibre can be challenging, and some identifications remain tentative or debated. The surviving material is fragmentary, and scholarly consensus on which kings bore the prenomen in specific instances is limited.

Context within royal titulary: The use of Wahibre reflects a broader tradition in which the king’s prenomen, often incorporating the name of a major deity like Ra, emphasizes divine legitimacy and royal authority. As with other prenomens, Wahibre would have been used in formal titulary alongside the personal birth name and other royal titles.

Legacy: Wahibre illustrates the common practice of incorporating the sun god into the king’s official titulary. The name’s relative obscurity and the fragmentary evidence surrounding its bearers contribute to a cautious scholarly understanding of its exact historical applications.