Several of the character names in the Matrix series have additional meanings.
Certain programs which controlled the execution of the Matrix were not given names, but titles. (e.g. The Oracle, The Architect, The Keymaker). Characters
- Neo - neo- as a prefix means "new": denoting he is the latest 'One' who can control the Matrix's future. Neo is also an anagram of one, reinforcing his Messianic status.
- *Thomas Anderson - Thomas can be considered a reference to the Gospel of Thomas, known in Gnosticism. Anderson means son of Andrew, and since Andrew is from the Greek for "man", this surname could be referring to one of Jesus' titles, "the Son of Man". The names "Thomas" and "Anderson" put together could be symbolic for the doubt Neo feels throughout the first film that he is, indeed, the One. "Thomas" as in "Doubting Thomas" and "Anderson" as interpreted above. It could also be related to Mark Andreson, creator of the web browser, which allowed him to see picures instead of code (as Neo eventually sees code instead of picures). Thomas also means "twin" in Aramaic, and has been interpreted in Gnostic texts to indicate Thomas as the Eidolon (lower self) to Jesus's Daimon (higher divine self). This could indicate a parallel structure with Thomas and Neo (the One).
- (Agent) Smith - "Smith" is the most common surname in many English-speaking countries, reinforcing his generic, conformist appearance as an Agent. In an early scene in The Matrix Reloaded, Smith drives a car with the license plate number "IS 5416"; in the King James Bible Isaiah 54:16 reads "Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy." The name also refers to Smith's powers of creation; Agent Smith creates Smith clones just as a shoesmith creates shoes.
- *Smith's fellow Agents in The Matrix are named Agent Brown and Agent Jones. These are also common Anglo-Saxon surnames (all of the Agents have nondescript names, and Morpheus comments "you all look the same to me").
- Trinity - Possibly a reference to the Trinity site, where the first atomic bomb exploded on July 16, 1945. Also could refer to the Holy Trinity, with Morpheus as God the Father, Neo as the Messiah, and Trinity as the Holy Spirit. This makes sense, as in the first movie, Neo finds Morpheus through Trinity; i.e., the Son finds his Father through the Spirit. Ironically though, Trinity is a woman instead of being a man, which is the sex usually associated with the Christian dogma. Holy Father, Son of God, etc.
- Morpheus - Morpheus was the Ancient Greek god of dreams - appropriate since he first contacts Neo through a series of dream-like events and his aim is to "awaken" people from the dream-world of the Matrix. The name also means "he who forms, or molds" (from the Greek morphe).
- Cypher - A cypher (or cipher) is a cryptographic system used for coding and decoding messages - Cypher's allegiances are coded and concealed. A cypher is also the mathematical symbol 0, from the Persian word sefr (صفر), denoting the absence of quantity - Zero (to Neo's One). It is possibly also a reduced form of Lucifer, a name for the Devil.
- Agents Jackson, Johnson, and Thompson - The "upgraded" Agents can be viewed as the "sons" of the original Agents. Like the previous generation of Agents, these are very common generic Anglo-Saxon surnames.
- Apoc - In UNIX operating system family computer parlance, "epoch" is used to designate the 1st of January of 1970 at 0:00. This date and time is used to calculate the "absolute time" in seconds (for instance, this program started to run at 235423452353 seconds since epoch and finished at 235423452986). In neural networks, epoch refers to one update of all weights for all the examples from the training set as the network converges upon the minimal prediction error using the backpropagation learning algorithm. This sounds a bit similar to apoc. A second theory is that "Apoc" is possibly a shortened form of "Apocalypse", referring the Biblical Book of Revelation. The shooting screenplay for "The Matrix" states that he wrote "The Four Horsemen" virus.
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