Who names chemical elements?
Quick answer
Official names for chemical elements are approved by IUPAC, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, founded in 1919. Once a discovery is confirmed, the discoverers propose a name, and IUPAC approves it after public review. The newest names, approved in 2016, are nihonium, moscovium, tennessine and oganesson.
How a new element gets its name
Naming an element is a slow, careful process that can take years after the first atoms are made.
- A lab creates atoms of a new superheavy element, often just a few atoms that last a fraction of a second.
- A joint panel of IUPAC and IUPAP (the physics union) reviews the evidence.
- If it’s confirmed, the discoverers are invited to suggest a name and a two-letter symbol.
- IUPAC opens a five-month public review.
- The IUPAC Council gives final approval.
Until then, elements carry temporary systematic names based on their number, such as ununoctium (“one-one-eight”) for element 118.
The naming rules
New elements can be named after:
| Source | Example |
|---|---|
| A mythological concept or character | Promethium (Prometheus) |
| A mineral or substance | Cobalt (from German Kobold, a goblin) |
| A place or region | Polonium (Poland), Americium |
| A property | Chlorine (Greek chloros, pale green) |
| A scientist | Einsteinium, Curium |
Names must end in -ium for most elements, -ine for halogens like tennessine, and -on for noble gases like oganesson.
The 2016 additions
| Number | Name | Symbol | Named after |
|---|---|---|---|
| 113 | Nihonium | Nh | Nihon, Japanese for Japan |
| 115 | Moscovium | Mc | Moscow region |
| 117 | Tennessine | Ts | Tennessee |
| 118 | Oganesson | Og | Physicist Yuri Oganessian, only the second element named after a living person |
These completed the seventh row of the periodic table.
Older names stay
Many symbols come from Latin, chosen long before IUPAC existed: Fe (iron, ferrum), Pb (lead, plumbum), Hg (mercury, hydrargyrum) and Au (gold); see why gold’s symbol is Au and which metal is liquid at room temperature.
IUPAC also sets naming rules for chemical compounds and standard atomic weights.
Still curious?
Jump to a random question from the archive.