Chemical elements named after places
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of chemical elements named after places. For a list of other toponyms, i.e., names derived from a place or region, see List of words derived from toponyms.
- americium — The Americas
- berkelium — city of Berkeley, California, home of the University of California
- californium — state of California and University of California, Berkeley
- copper is probably named after Cyprus
- darmstadtium — Darmstadt, Germany
- dubnium — Dubna, Russia
- erbium — Ytterby, Sweden
- europium — Europe
- francium — France
- gallium — Gallia, Latin for France. Frenchman Lecoq de Boisbaudran, who was the discoverer of the metal, named it after his country and also subtly for himself. Lecoq (rooster) in Latin is gallus.
- germanium — Germany
- hafnium — Hafnia, Latin for Copenhagen
- hassium — Hesse, Germany
- holmium — Holmia, Latin for Stockholm
- lutetium — Lutetia, Latin for Paris
- magnesium — Magnesia prefecture in Thessaly, Greece
- polonium — Poland
- rhenium — Rhenus, Latin for Rhine
- ruthenium — Ruthenia, Latin for Ruthenia
- scandium — Scandia, Latin for Scandinavia
- strontium — Strontian, Scotland
- terbium — Ytterby, Sweden
- thulium — Thule, a mythical island in the far north, perhaps Scandinavia
- ytterbium — Ytterby, Sweden
- yttrium — Ytterby, Sweden
Note: Ytterby in Sweden has given its name to four elements: Erbium, Terbium, Ytterbium and Yttrium.
Additionally, the following elements are named after astronomical objects:
- cerium — Ceres
- helium — Helios, the Greek name for the Sun
- neptunium — Neptune
- palladium — Pallas
- plutonium — Pluto
- selenium — Selene, the Greek name for the Moon
- tellurium — Tellus, the Latin name for the Earth
- uranium — Uranus
