# Names of elements with atomic number 104 to 109 **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 29, 2002, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-elements-with-atomic-number-104-to-109/134345 "2002-10-29T03:50:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-elements-with-atomic-number-104-to-109/134345/1 "2002-10-29T03:50:06Z")
What is the satus of the names for elements 104 to 109? I recall that a few years ago, the “official” names were in dispute (perhaps due to ‘Cold War’ politics). Are the following names now “officially” accepted? 104 - Rutherfordium 105 - Dubnium 106 - Seaborgium 107 - Bohrium 108 - Hassium 109 - Meitnerium ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-elements-with-atomic-number-104-to-109/134345/2 "2002-10-29T04:07:30Z")
[http://www.webelements.com/](http://www.webelements.com/) This was the most up to date one I could find. It lists them as you did. Official? My search didn’t pull up much about how they were named, unless one of those super wordy pages had it buried inside a bunch of posturing crap. Why can’t someone just write a paper without having to try to out do their peers with word usage? Sorry about the hijack ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-elements-with-atomic-number-104-to-109/134345/3 "2002-10-29T04:10:45Z")
by up to date, it said it was last updated 3 April, 2002. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-elements-with-atomic-number-104-to-109/134345/4 "2002-10-29T04:24:52Z")
This recent[IUPAC periodic table](http://www.iupac.org/reports/periodic_table/) contains with the names you supplied. Here’s the latest on [how new elements are named](http://www.iupac.org/publications/pac/2002/7405/7405x0787.html). ---
**Author:** ![SC\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@SC\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SC_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-elements-with-atomic-number-104-to-109/134345/5 "2002-10-29T04:27:31Z")
I’ll admit, I miss the naming convention that generated names based off of the Atomic number. There was just something cool sounding about an element named Unnilhexium. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-elements-with-atomic-number-104-to-109/134345/6 "2002-10-29T11:38:41Z")
Don’t worry, those atomic-number-based names are still around, but only for use when describing elements of 110 and above, eg the recently synthesised [Element 114](http://www.cerncourier.com/main/article/39/7/18), or ununquadium. The idea is that some of these elements may be given official names later, but until that point (and for purely hypothetical elements) you can use the “number names”. (Some of the elements about Z=115-120 may be quite stable; the so-called island of stability.) BTW, for those that don’t know, the names are constructed using the following fragments: 0 = nil (n) 1 = un (u) 2 = bi (b) 3 = tri (t) 4 = quad (q) 5 = pent (p) 6 = hex (h) 7 = sept (s) 8 = oct (o) 9 = enn (e) eg, element 222 would be called bibibium 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-elements-with-atomic-number-104-to-109/134345/7 "2002-10-29T11:41:00Z")
Incidentally, [here](http://www.iupac.org/news/archives/1997/august97.html) is the IUPAC press release (from August 1997) confirming the acceptance of the new names. So they’ve been official for over 5 years now. ---
**Author:** ![SC\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@SC\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SC_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-elements-with-atomic-number-104-to-109/134345/8 "2002-10-29T12:14:00Z")
The fun thing is, if Boron didn’t have an offical name, under the number to name system, It’d be Pentium. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2002, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-elements-with-atomic-number-104-to-109/134345/9 "2002-10-30T02:06:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by r\_k \* > \*\*Incidentally, [here](http://www.iupac.org/news/archives/1997/august97.html) is the IUPAC press release (from August 1997) confirming the acceptance of the new names. So they’ve been official for over 5 years now. \*\* Thanks to all, and in particular to **r-k** for this. It is exactly what I was looking for. Incidentally, I guess I’ll have to change the answer to some of my ‘element trivia questions’: What elements are named after people? What elements are named after places? (see if you can get them without cheating) ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2002, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-elements-with-atomic-number-104-to-109/134345/10 "2002-10-30T04:13:12Z")
My favorite elemental trivia question is: What element is named after a woman? The answer, of course, is Meitnerium. I also accept Curium, but that’s technically named after two people, one of whom is a woman. So Meitnerium is the _best_ answer. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2002, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-elements-with-atomic-number-104-to-109/134345/11 "2002-10-30T05:31:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KarlGauss \* > \*\*What elements are named after places? (see if you can get them without cheating) \*\* I can’t imagine why some people [waste their time](http://www.geocities.com/maineiac_bibliophage/elements2.html) with this kind of thing. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2002, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-elements-with-atomic-number-104-to-109/134345/12 "2002-10-30T11:55:41Z")
Hmm… I can just see people like you making a pilgrimage to Ytterby in Sweden, the undisputed king of elemental eponymy with four (count 'em!) - erbium, terbium, yttrium and ytterbium 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2002, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-elements-with-atomic-number-104-to-109/134345/13 "2002-10-30T12:30:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Achernar \* > \*\*My favorite elemental trivia question is: What element is named after a woman? > > The answer, of course, is Meitnerium. I also accept Curium, but that’s technically named after two people, one of whom is a woman. So Meitnerium is the _best_ answer. \*\* […must… …resist… …posting… …Oh, what the hell!..] It is the _better_ answer. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2002, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-elements-with-atomic-number-104-to-109/134345/14 "2002-10-30T13:19:04Z")
Another bit of trivia is that the rules were “bent” to allow an element to be named after a living person (Glenn Seaborg) - although only for 18 months or so, as he died in February 1999. (And also, apparently chemistry Nobel Prize winners _[do](http://www.vaxholm.se/DEUTSCH/Grube.htm)_ go to visit the Ytterby mines, as they’re only a short distance from Stockholm, where the prizes are awarded…) ---
**Author:** ![SC\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@SC\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SC_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2002, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-elements-with-atomic-number-104-to-109/134345/15 "2002-10-30T13:41:30Z")
Damn. And they made Elvis wait at least a decade after his reported death before they let him on a postage stamp. It’s just not fair. 😃