The Name of Seshat
Like the names of many other Egyptian deities (if not all of them), Seshat's name is essentially a descriptive title. "Seshat" () simply means "female scribe."

Titles
Seshat's most important titles, known since the beginning of Egyptian history, are "Lady of Builders," "Foremost in the Library" (Per-Medjat or House of Books), and "Foremost in the Temple Library" (Per-Ankh, or House of Life). She is also "The Original One who originated writing at the beginning" and "She who is before the House of Foreigners."

Seshat shares some titles and epithets with Djehuty (Thoth). They are "Foremost of Heseret," the necropolis in Hermopolis, and together are the "Lord and Lady of Writing" and "Lord and Lady of Hermopolis." (In fact Hermopolis was named for Djehuty by the Greeks, who equated Him with Hermes. The city was originally called Khmun.) There is more about Seshat's relationship to Djehuty on the "Connections" page.

At least since the New Kingdom, Seshat carried several other titles:

• Lady of Years
  
• Lady of Fate
  
• Lady of the Declarations of Ra
  
• Right and True Flower in the Hand of Ra
  
• Great of Magic (weret-hekau) -- a title common to Aset (Isis), Sekhmet, Wadjet, Nit, Bast, Djehuty, and perhaps others; also a Name of Netjer in Her own right.
  
• Eye of Ra -- a title shared by many female gods, primarily Sekhmet.
  
• The Golden -- a common title or epithet for the Names, primarily Het-Hert (Hathor). It is sometimes said of the Names that Their skin is made of gold.
  
• Lady of the Sky/Heaven -- a title shared with Het-Hert, and most likely, other Names.

Sefkhet-Abwy
Since the reign of Amenemhet III, Seshat was also referred to as Sefkhet-Abwy ("the seven-horned lady" and possibly "she who lays aside the two horns", probably a reference to Her rosette symbol).

While Seshat and Sefkhet-Abwy are the same entity, there may be a subtle distinction in the choice of name used to address Her -- something like the distinction between "President" and "Commander-In-Chief."

Great & Small
In the Ptoelmaic era, Seshat was often depicted twice in the same scene and named as if She were two separate deities: Seshat-Weret (Great Seshat) and Seshat-Nedjset (Small Seshat). The "two" performed the same functions and were identical except in size.

It's possible that the Ptolemies simply wanted to secure a double blessing upon their reigns, but there may be some mystical significance beyond royalty hedging their bets. No example has been found of Seshat-Nedjset referred to as "Lady of Writing", "Great of Magic" or "Sefkhet-Abwy." Whether this is happenstance or by design is unknown.