List of chemical elements named after people

This is a list of chemical elements named after people. The symbol and atomic number are given in brackets.

:"For other lists of eponyms (names derived from people) see Lists of etymologies.":"For a list of eponyms sorted by name see List of eponyms.

* bohrium (Bh, 107) — Niels Bohr
* curium (Cm, 96) — Pierre and Marie Curie
* einsteinium (Es, 99) — Albert Einstein
* fermium (Fm, 100) — Enrico Fermi
* gallium (Ga, 31) — although named after "Gallia" (Latin for France), the discoverer of the metal Lecoq de Boisbaudran subtly attached an association with his name. "Lecoq" (rooster) in Latin is "gallus".
* lawrencium (Lr, 103) — Ernest Lawrence
* meitnerium (Mt, 109) — Lise Meitner
* mendelevium (Md, 101) — Dmitri Mendeleev
* nobelium (No, 102) — Alfred Nobel
* roentgenium (Rg, 111) — Wilhelm Roentgen
* rutherfordium (Rf, 104) — Ernest Rutherford
* seaborgium (Sg, 106) — Glenn T. Seaborg

The element naming controversy that surrounded elements 104 to 109 saw two further names derived from people gain partial acceptance. Neither was or is accepted by IUPAC.
* hahnium (Hh, 105) — Otto Hahn. Now known as dubnium.
* kurchatovium (Ku, 104) — Igor Kurchatov. Now known as rutherfordium.

Named after mythical characters
* niobium (Nb, 41) — Niobe, a mortal woman in Greek mythology
* promethium (Pm, 61) — Prometheus, a Titan from Greek mythology
* tantalum (Ta, 73) — Tantalus, from Greek mythology
* thorium (Th, 90) — Thor, the Norse god of thunder
* titanium (Ti, 22) — the Titans, from Greek mythology
* vanadium (V, 23) — Scandinavian goddess Vanadis (Freyja)

Many chemical elements are named after astronomical bodies which are named after Greek or Roman deities. See Chemical elements named after places.

* Gadolinium (Gd, 64) is named from the mineral gadolinite, which in turn is named after the Finnish chemist and geologist Johan Gadolin.
* Samarium (Sm, 62) is named from the mineral samarskite which in turn is named after Vasili Samarsky-Bykhovets, a Russian mine official.

ee also

* List of elements by name
* Chemical elements named after places
* Lists of etymologies
* Lists of people