Chemical elements named after places - Definition and Overview

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 toponyms.

• americium – The Americas
• berkelium – University of California, Berkeley
• 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 Rus'
• 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

See also

• List of elements by name
• List of elements named after people
• List of places