 No satisfactory origin of the name Palaemon has been given.The name means the "wrestler",<ref>Fowler, p. 316; Fontenrose, p. 352.</ref> and is an epithet of Heracles, with whom Melqart is identified by "interpretatio graeca" and referred to as the "Tyrian Herakles", but there does not appear to be any traditional connection between Heracles and Palaemon.Melicertes being Phoenician, Palaemon also has been explained as the "burning lord" ("Baal-haman"), but there seems little in common between a god of the sea and a god of fire.