# Names of the elements beyond 103

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-the-elements-beyond-103/194301>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 11, 2003, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-the-elements-beyond-103/194301 "2003-08-11T02:10:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-the-elements-beyond-103/194301/1 "2003-08-11T02:10:50Z")

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A project that a friend of mine is working on – and the appearance of **unnildecium** as a poster – prompts me to wonder: What’s the consensus of the names of element 104 and beyond?

I had heard that a decision was made to go with the standardized numeric naming system to avoid sniping over who discovered which element first and what the names should be and such. I know that two different camps wanted to use kurchatovium and rutherfordium to name the same element, and I know that seaborgium was proposed as a name but taken back because Mr. Seaborg is (or was, at the time) alive.

But these non-numeric names seem to be pretty official in an unofficial kind of way, you know?

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**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-the-elements-beyond-103/194301/2 "2003-08-11T02:14:52Z")

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[Here](http://www.chem.qmw.ac.uk/iupac/AtWt/) is up to 118.

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**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-the-elements-beyond-103/194301/3 "2003-08-11T02:33:55Z")

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Interesting. It appears that they decided on letting seaborgium stand as a name. And rutherfordium won out over kurchatovium. I wonder if they’ll use kurchatovium for a later element – it is catchy!

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**Author:** ![Jon\_the\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@Jon\_the\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jon_the_Geek)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-the-elements-beyond-103/194301/4 "2003-08-11T03:09:03Z")

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Just to make sure it’s clear, 101-109 are now (I believe) official, 110 is still unofficial (unless it’s been accepted since that page/since I checked), and 111-118 don’t have official names yet (I don’t believe anyone plans to keep the unununium-style names forever, they’re just the official names until official names are agreed upon).

Someone please correct me if the nil/un/bi/etc names are being used permanently now.

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**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-of-the-elements-beyond-103/194301/5 "2003-08-11T04:28:42Z")

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If I’m not mistaken, the unnilwhateverium names are “official temporary names” – as an element is claimed to have been discovered in the cascade of particles from a given reaction, it is designated by the un/nil system. When a given claim is finally agreed on by the atomic-physics community as having the priority for that particular element, the right to nominate a permanent name goes to the claimant – subject to a few rules on what is and is not an appropriate name.