Chemical Element Names and Symbols

1	From the Greek for 'I bring forth water'	H	Hydrogen
2	Named after the Greek god of the Sun	He	Helium
3	From the Greek for (a) stone (because it was discovered in a mineral, while other common alkali metals (sodium and potassium) were discovered in plant tissue	Li	Lithium
4	After the semi–precious gemstone from which it was first isolated in 1798	Be	Beryllium
5	After the mineral from which it was first isolated, by comparison with carbon, which it resembles chemically	B	Boron
6	From the French word for charcoal – ultimately from the Latin word for coal	C	Carbon
7	From the Greek for 'I bring forth saltpetre'	N	Nitrogen
8	From the Greek for 'I bring forth acid'	O	Oxygen
9	After the mineral from which it was first isolated, whose name is derived from the Latin for 'to flow'	F	Fluorine
10	From the Greek for 'new'	Ne	Neon
11	From the common names for several of its compounds – from the Latin for a headache remedy	Na	Sodium
12	After the mineral from which it was first isolated, which is named after the district in Thessaly, Greece, where it was discovered (an alternative to the name of element no. 25, which has the same source)	Mg	Magnesium
13	From the mineral in which it exists as an element, whose name means 'bitter salt'	Al	Aluminium
14	From the Latin for flint	Si	Silicon
15	From the Greek for 'light bearer' (a name previously used for the Morning Star, which is Venus)	P	Phosphorus
16	Name goes back to ancient India; abundant in native form (i.e. as the element itself) as well as in compounds	S	Sulphur
17	From the Greek for 'pale green' or 'yellowish green'	Cl	Chlorine
18	From the Greek for 'inactive' (literally 'slow')	Ar	Argon
19	From the common English name for various salts that contain it in water–soluble form; refers to plant ashes soaked in water	K	Potassium
20	From the Latin for 'lime' (which is its oxide)	Ca	Calcium
21	From the Latin name for the part of northern Europe where the minerals from which it was first extracted were found	Sc	Scandium
22	After the pre–Olympian gods from Greek Mythology – the sons and daughters of Gaia and Uranus (the personifications of the Earth and the sky respectively)	Ti	Titanium
23	From one of the alternative names of Freyja, the Norse goddess of beauty, because of the beauty of its multicoloured compounds	V	Vanadium
24	From the Greek for 'colour'	Cr	Chromium
25	After the mineral from which it was first isolated, which is named after the district in Thessaly, Greece, where it was discovered	Mn	Manganese
26	From the Anglo–Saxon for 'holy metal' or 'strong metal'	Fe	Iron
27	From the German for an evil spirit – often translated as 'goblin' (miners believed that such spirits had replaced the silver with it)	Co	Cobalt
28	From the Swedish for colour – the ore from which it was obtained was given a name that means 'copper–coloured'	Ni	Nickel
29	Named after the Mediterranean island where it was mined by the ancient Romans	Cu	Copper
30	From a German word for a prong or tooth (also tine, tenon, dovetail, cornet or snout) – probably because of its spiky crystals	Zn	Zinc
31	From the Latin name for France (which is derived from the Latin word for a rooster)	Ga	Gallium
32	Because it was discovered in a new mineral that was found near Freiburg, Saxony, in 1885	Ge	Germanium
33	From the Persian name for yellow orpiment, which is a mineral that contains it and has been used as a poison since ancient times	As	Arsenic
34	After the Greek goddess of the Moon	Se	Selenium
35	From the Greek word for a stench (because of its characteristic smell)	Br	Bromine
36	From the Greek for 'hidden one' (because of its lack of colour, smell or taste, combined with its rarity)	Kr	Krypton
37	From the Latin for 'deepest red' – the colour of a spectral line that led to its discovery in 1861	Rb	Rubidium
38	After the village in Scotland near which it was discovered	Sr	Strontium
39	After the village in Sweden where its oxide was found, from which the element was identified in 1792	Y	Yttrium
40	Named after the mineral that is its silicate and its most important source, whose name comes from the Persian for 'gold–like'	Zr	Zirconium
41	Named after the daughter of Tantalus, in Greek mythology; it sits above tantalum in the periodic table (and shares many properties with it)	Nb	Niobium
42	From the Greek for lead – because its principal ore was often confused with galena, the principal ore of lead	Mo	Molybdenum
43	From the Greek for 'artificial' or 'man–made', because it was the first element to be produced artificially	Tc	Technetium
44	From the 'New Latin' name (also possibly from one of the Greek names) for Russia – the homeland of the German scientist who discovered it in 1844	Ru	Ruthenium
45	From the Greek word for a rose, because of its rose–red compounds	Rh	Rhodium
46	Named after the third–largest asteroid, which was discovered two years before the element (the second asteroid to be discovered) and was named after the Greek goddess of wisdom and victory	Pd	Palladium
47	Name goes back to Anglo–Saxon times, and may be related to an ancient middle–eastern word meaning to refine or smelt	Ag	Silver
48	Named after a character from Greek mythology: the first Greek hero, and the greatest slayer of monsters before Heracles	Cd	Cadmium
49	Named after the colour of the line in its spectrum, which led to its dicovery in 1864	In	Indium
50	Name is common to all Germanic languages and can be traced to the roots of those languages within the Indo–European group	Sn	Tin
51	Possibly from the Greek for 'opposed to solitude', because it was believed never to exist in its pure form; alternatively, it may be from the French for 'monk–killer' ('monk's bane'), because many early alchemists were monks and the element is poisonous	Sb	Antimony
52	Named after the Latin name for the Earth	Te	Tellurium
53	Name comes from the Greek word for 'violet',after the colour of its gaseous phase	I	Iodine
54	From the Greek for a stranger or foreigner	Xe	Xenon
55	From the Latin word meaning 'sky–blue', after the characteristic lines in its spectrum; this was (in 1860) the first element to be discovered by flame spectroscopy	Cs	Caesium
56	Named after the mineral in which it was first discovered, whose name is derived from the Greek word for 'heavy'	Ba	Barium (from baryta)
57	From the Greek meaning 'to lie hidden', because it often occurs along with caesium and its properties are very similar to those of caesium	La	Lanthanum
58	Named after the largest asteroid and the first to be discovered, which was discovered two years before the element and was named after the Roman goddess of fertility	Ce	Cerium
59	Name comes from the Greek meaning 'green twin', because it was one of two elements in the mineral didymium, which was named from the Greek meaning 'twin element' because of its similarity to lanthanum, with which it was found – and because its oxide is green	Pr	Praseodymium
60	Name comes from the Greek meaning 'new twin', because it was one of two elements in the mineral didymium, which was named from the Greek meaning 'twin element' because of its similarity to lanthanum, with which it was found	Nd	Neodymium
61	Named after the Titan, in Greek mythology, who was the creator of mankind and its greatest benefactor, who stole fire from Mount Olympus and gave it to mankind	Pm	Promethium
62	Named after the mineral from which it was first isolated, which in turn was named after the Russian mining official who granted access to samples of the mineral. The first element to be named after a person	Sm	Samarium
63	Named after the continent where it was discovered	Eu	Europium
64	Named after the Finnish chemist who was one of the founders of Nordic chemistry research, and who discovered yttrium	Gd	Gadolinium
65	The second element to be named after the village in Sweden that was the source of the mineral from which all four were identified – this one in 1843	Tb	Terbium
66	From the Greek for 'hard to get', because the French chemist who discovered it made more than 30 attempts to isolate it from its oxide	Dy	Dysprosium
67	Named after the home town of the Swedish chemist who discovered it in 1878	Ho	Holmium
68	The third element to be named after the village in Sweden that was the source of the mineral from which all four were identified – this one in 1843	Er	Erbium
69	Name is an ancient Greek and Roman name for a mythical country in the far North – often associated with Scandinavia or Iceland	Tm	Thulium
70	The fourth element to be named after the village in Sweden that was the source of the mineral from which all four were identified – this one in 1878	Yb	Ytterbium
71	Named from the Latin name for Paris	Lu	Lutetium
72	Named from the Latin name for Copenhagen, where it was discovered in 1923	Hf	Hafnium
73	Named after the character from Greek mythology who was punished after death by being condemned to stand knee–deep in water, which receded if he bent to drink it. This was considered analogous to the element's non–reactivity	Ta	Tantalum
74	The name used in English and French (and many other languages) is based on the Swedish and Danish phrase meaning 'heavy stone'. A different name is used in German (and many other languages, including the Nordic ones)	W	Tungsten
75	Named from the Latin name for the river Rhine (the only element named after a river)	Re	Rhenium
76	From the Greek word for a smell – because of its foul–smelling tetroxide	Os	Osmium
77	Named after the Greek goddess of rainbows, because many of its salts are strongly coloured	Ir	Iridium
78	From the Spanish for 'little silver', because it was first discovered in a silver mine	Pt	Platinum
79	From Anglo–Saxon; ultimately from a Proto–Indo–European word meaning 'yellow' or 'bright'	Au	Gold
80	Named after the messenger of the gods in Roman mythology	Hg	Mercury
81	From a Greek word meaning a green shoot or twig, because of its bright green spectral emission lines	Tl	Thallium
82	Name is of Germanic origin – in other words, very old, its etymology lost in the mists of time	Pb	Lead
83	Name is derived from a German word, possibly originally meaning 'white mass' – from its appearance	Bi	Bismuth
84	Named after the home country of Marie Curie, who discovered it in 1898 along with her husband Pierre	Po	Polonium
85	Name comes from a Greek word meaning 'unstable'	At	Astatine
86	Name indicates that it appears in the radioactive decay of radium	Rn	Radon
87	Named after France – because it was discovered at the Curie Institute in Paris	Fr	Francium
88	From the Latin word for a ray – because of its radioactivity	Ra	Radium
89	From the Greek word for a ray or beam	Ac	Actinium
90	Named after the Norse god of thunder	Th	Thorium
91	Derived from the Greek for 'first ray'	Pa	Protactinium
92	Named after the planet that was discovered in 1781 – eight years before the element; the planet was named after the Greek god of the sky and heaven	U	Uranium
93	Named after the next planet to be discovered after the one that gave its name to the previous element (in atomic number order); the planet was discovered in 1846, the element in 1940	Np	Neptunium
94	Continues the naming sequence of the previous two elements: named after the planet (now a minor planet) that was discovered in 1930; the element was first produced and isolated in 1940	Pu	Plutonium
95	Named after the continent in which it was first produced in 1944, by analogy with europium	Am	Americium
96	Named in honour of the married couple who discovered radium and researched radioactivity	Cm	Curium
97	Named after the location of the University of California, where it was discovered in 1949	Bk	Berkelium
98	Named after the university where it was first produced in 1950, and its home state	Cf	Californium
99	Named in honour of the German–born scientist who proposed the theory of relativity and discovered the law of the photoelectric effect – a pivotal step in the evolution of quantum theory	Es	Einsteinium
100	Named in honour of the Italian–born physicist who developed the first nuclear reactor, quantum theory, nuclear and particle physics, and statistical mechanics	Fm	Fermium
101	Named in honour of the inventor of the periodic table	Md	Mendelevium
102	Named in honour of the inventor of dynamite, who went on to become one of history's most famous philanthropists	No	Nobelium
103	Named in honour of the American nuclear scientist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939 for his invention of the cyclotron	Lr	Lawrencium
104	Named in honour of the New Zealand physicist who came to be known as the father of nuclear physics (the longest name of all the elements – 13 letters)	Rf	Rutherfordium
105	Named after the Russian town, home of the USSR's Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, where it was first produced in 1968	Db	Dubnium
106	Named in honour of the US chemist who discovered the chemistry of the transuranium elements, shared in the discovery and isolation of ten elements, and developed and proposed the actinide series; the first elelent to be named after a living person (see also oganesson)	Sg	Seaborgium
107	Named in honour of the Danish physicist who made fundamental contributions to the understanding of atomic structure and quantum mechanics	Bh	Bohrium
108	Given the Latin name of the German state that's home to Germany's centre for research on and with heavy–ion accelerators, where it was discovered in 1984	Hs	Hassium
109	Named in honour of the Austrian physicist who shared the discovery of nuclear fission – the only element that's named solely after a woman	Mt	Meitnerium
110	Named after the German town that's home to Germany's centre for research on and with heavy–ion accelerators, where it was discovered in 1994	Ds	Darmstadtium
111	Named in honour of the German physicist who discovered X–rays	Rg	Roentgenium
112	Named in honour of the Polish astronomer who first proposed that the Earth revolved around the Sun, and not vice versa	Cn	Copernicium
113	Named after the country where it was first synthesised in 2004 (Japan)	Nh	Nihonium
114	Named after a laboratory at the Russian Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, which in turn is named after the Soviet nuclear physicist who discovered spontaneous fission	Fl	Flerovium
115	Named after the local government centre for the Russian Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (also the nation's capital city)	Mc	Moscovium
116	Named after the US research station responsible for ensuring the safety, security and reliability of the USA's nuclear weapons	Lv	Livermorium
117	Named after the US state that's home to a National Laboratory and two universities that carry out research into superheavy elements	Ts	Tennessine
118	Named after the Russian nuclear physicist who pioneered transactinide research (only the second element to be named after a living person; see also seaborgium)	Og	Oganesson

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Chemical Element Names and Symbols