[10] The name Menes is first documented in the work of Manetho, an Egyptian historian and priest of the relatively late Ptolemaic period.

[13] The Egyptian form, mnj, is taken from the Turin and Abydos King Lists, which are dated to the Nineteenth Dynasty, whose pronunciation has been reconstructed as */maˈnij/.

[5] Alternatively, the name may conceal the collective identity of the Naqada III rulers: Ka, Scorpion II and Narmer, or may simply refer to a functional leadership role.

[5][a] From this, various theories on the nature of the building (a funerary booth or a shrine), the meaning of the word mn (a name or the verb endures) and the relationship between Hor-Aha and Menes (as one person or as successive pharaohs) have arisen.

[2][3] Lloyd (1994) finds this succession "extremely probable",[3] and Cervelló-Autuori (2003) categorically states that "Menes is Narmer and the First Dynasty begins with him".

The second is the seal impression from Abydos that alternates between a serekh of Narmer and the chessboard symbol, "mn", which is interpreted as an abbreviation of Menes.

[1] Ancient tradition ascribes to Menes to uniting Upper and Lower Egypt into a single kingdom[25] and becoming the first pharaoh of the First Dynasty.

[11][26] Herodotus contradicts Manetho in stating that Menes founded the city of Memphis as his capital[30] after diverting the course of the Nile through the construction of a levee.

[33] Diodorus Siculus stated that Menes had introduced the worship of the gods and the practice of sacrifice[34] as well as a more elegant and luxurious style of living.

The lead part of Menes is described in the dramatis personæ as "next male-heir to the crown" now worn by Seraphis, and was played by Samuel Reddish in a 1774 production by David Garrick at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.