Table of Elements With Names

By the Names.Contact Editorial Team · Updated September 2026 · 118 names

The periodic table has 118 confirmed elements, and every name tells a story. Some come from Greek or Latin descriptions (chlorine means “pale green”), some from gods and myths (titanium, thorium, promethium), some from places (a single Swedish village, Ytterby, gave its name to four elements) and, in the modern era, many from scientists.

Below you’ll find every element listed by period with its symbol, atomic number and name origin. Symbols that don’t match the English name, such as Fe for iron or Au for gold, come from the Latin. If the mythology behind the names interests you, see our Greek god names and Norse god names; for more science-flavored ideas, try our space names or the rest of our planet and nature names.

Our top picks: Helium, Titanium, Cobalt, Vanadium, Iridium, Promethium, Selenium, Thorium, Einsteinium, Oganesson

Periods 1 and 2: hydrogen to neon

The lightest elements, including the building blocks of water and life. Oxygen and hydrogen were named by Antoine Lavoisier in the 1780s.

Element	Symbol · No.	Where the name comes from
Hydrogen	H · 1	Greek hydro + genes, “water-former”
Helium	He · 2	Greek helios, “sun”; first seen in the solar spectrum in 1868
Lithium	Li · 3	Greek lithos, “stone”
Beryllium	Be · 4	From the mineral beryl
Boron	B · 5	From borax, via Arabic and Persian
Carbon	C · 6	Latin carbo, “charcoal”
Nitrogen	N · 7	Greek nitron + genes, “niter-former”
Oxygen	O · 8	Greek oxys + genes, “acid-former”
Fluorine	F · 9	Latin fluere, “to flow”, from fluorspar used as a flux
Neon	Ne · 10	Greek neos, “new”

Period 3: sodium to argon

Several of these symbols come from Latin or German names rather than English ones.

Element	Symbol · No.	Where the name comes from
Sodium	Na · 11	From soda; symbol from Latin natrium
Magnesium	Mg · 12	Magnesia, a district of Thessaly, Greece
Aluminum	Al · 13	Latin alumen, “alum” (spelled aluminium outside North America)
Silicon	Si · 14	Latin silex, “flint”
Phosphorus	P · 15	Greek phosphoros, “light-bearer”, because it glows
Sulfur	S · 16	Latin sulfur
Chlorine	Cl · 17	Greek chloros, “pale green”
Argon	Ar · 18	Greek argos, “lazy, inactive”

Period 4: potassium to krypton

The first row of transition metals, with names from Norse goddesses, German goblins and Scandinavia.

Element	Symbol · No.	Where the name comes from
Potassium	K · 19	From potash; symbol from Latin kalium
Calcium	Ca · 20	Latin calx, “lime”
Scandium	Sc · 21	Scandinavia
Titanium	Ti · 22	The Titans of Greek myth
Vanadium	V · 23	Vanadís, a name of the Norse goddess Freyja
Chromium	Cr · 24	Greek chroma, “color”, for its colorful compounds
Manganese	Mn · 25	From magnesia nigra, a black mineral, via Italian
Iron	Fe · 26	Old English iren; symbol from Latin ferrum
Cobalt	Co · 27	German Kobold, “goblin”, blamed by miners for toxic ores
Nickel	Ni · 28	German Kupfernickel, “copper demon”
Copper	Cu · 29	Latin cuprum, from Cyprus
Zinc	Zn · 30	German Zink, possibly from Zinke, “prong”
Gallium	Ga · 31	Latin Gallia, “France”
Germanium	Ge · 32	Germany
Arsenic	As · 33	Greek arsenikon, from Persian zarnikh, “yellow orpiment”
Selenium	Se · 34	Greek selene, “moon”
Bromine	Br · 35	Greek bromos, “stench”
Krypton	Kr · 36	Greek kryptos, “hidden”

Period 5: rubidium to xenon

Here you’ll find elements named after Russia, Scotland and a Greek goddess, and the first element ever made artificially.

Element	Symbol · No.	Where the name comes from
Rubidium	Rb · 37	Latin rubidus, “deep red”, for its spectral lines
Strontium	Sr · 38	Strontian, a village in Scotland
Yttrium	Y · 39	Ytterby, Sweden
Zirconium	Zr · 40	The mineral zircon, from Persian zargun, “gold-colored”
Niobium	Nb · 41	Niobe, daughter of Tantalus in Greek myth
Molybdenum	Mo · 42	Greek molybdos, “lead”, as its ore was mistaken for lead
Technetium	Tc · 43	Greek technetos, “artificial”; first man-made element (1937)
Ruthenium	Ru · 44	Latin Ruthenia, “Russia”
Rhodium	Rh · 45	Greek rhodon, “rose”, for its rose-colored salts
Palladium	Pd · 46	The asteroid Pallas, named after Pallas Athena
Silver	Ag · 47	Old English seolfor; symbol from Latin argentum
Cadmium	Cd · 48	Latin cadmia, “calamine”, linked to Cadmus
Indium	In · 49	The indigo line in its spectrum
Tin	Sn · 50	Old English tin; symbol from Latin stannum
Antimony	Sb · 51	Medieval Latin antimonium; symbol from stibium
Tellurium	Te · 52	Latin tellus, “earth”
Iodine	I · 53	Greek iodes, “violet”, for its purple vapor
Xenon	Xe · 54	Greek xenos, “stranger”

Period 6: cesium to radon

The heaviest stable elements, including gold, platinum and mercury, plus names drawn from Copenhagen, the Rhine and a rainbow goddess.

Element	Symbol · No.	Where the name comes from
Cesium	Cs · 55	Latin caesius, “sky blue”, for its spectral lines
Barium	Ba · 56	Greek barys, “heavy”
Hafnium	Hf · 72	Latin Hafnia, “Copenhagen”
Tantalum	Ta · 73	Tantalus, who could never drink the water around him
Tungsten	W · 74	Swedish tung sten, “heavy stone”; W from wolfram
Rhenium	Re · 75	Latin Rhenus, the Rhine
Osmium	Os · 76	Greek osme, “smell”
Iridium	Ir · 77	Iris, goddess of the rainbow, for its colorful salts
Platinum	Pt · 78	Spanish platina, “little silver”
Gold	Au · 79	Old English gold; symbol from Latin aurum
Mercury	Hg · 80	The planet and god; Hg from Greek-Latin hydrargyrum, “liquid silver”
Thallium	Tl · 81	Greek thallos, “green shoot”, for its green spectral line
Lead	Pb · 82	Old English lead; symbol from Latin plumbum
Bismuth	Bi · 83	German Wismut, origin uncertain
Polonium	Po · 84	Poland, Marie Curie’s homeland
Astatine	At · 85	Greek astatos, “unstable”
Radon	Rn · 86	From radium

The lanthanides (rare earth elements)

These 15 metals sit in the separate row below the main table. Four of them — yttrium, terbium, erbium and ytterbium — share the name of the Swedish village Ytterby (yttrium sits in period 5).

Element	Symbol · No.	Where the name comes from
Lanthanum	La · 57	Greek lanthanein, “to lie hidden”
Cerium	Ce · 58	The dwarf planet Ceres
Praseodymium	Pr · 59	Greek prasios didymos, “green twin”
Neodymium	Nd · 60	Greek neos didymos, “new twin”
Promethium	Pm · 61	Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods
Samarium	Sm · 62	Mineral samarskite, after Russian mining engineer Vasili Samarsky-Bykhovets
Europium	Eu · 63	Europe
Gadolinium	Gd · 64	Finnish chemist Johan Gadolin
Terbium	Tb · 65	Ytterby, Sweden
Dysprosium	Dy · 66	Greek dysprositos, “hard to get”
Holmium	Ho · 67	Latin Holmia, “Stockholm”
Erbium	Er · 68	Ytterby, Sweden
Thulium	Tm · 69	Thule, the mythical far-northern land
Ytterbium	Yb · 70	Ytterby, Sweden
Lutetium	Lu · 71	Latin Lutetia, “Paris”

Period 7: francium, radium and the superheavy elements

Nearly all of these are named after scientists or the laboratories that created them. The last four were officially named in 2016.

Element	Symbol · No.	Where the name comes from
Francium	Fr · 87	France
Radium	Ra · 88	Latin radius, “ray”
Rutherfordium	Rf · 104	Physicist Ernest Rutherford
Dubnium	Db · 105	Dubna, Russia, home of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research
Seaborgium	Sg · 106	Glenn Seaborg, named while he was still alive
Bohrium	Bh · 107	Physicist Niels Bohr
Hassium	Hs · 108	Latin Hassia, the German state of Hesse
Meitnerium	Mt · 109	Physicist Lise Meitner
Darmstadtium	Ds · 110	Darmstadt, Germany
Roentgenium	Rg · 111	Wilhelm Röntgen, discoverer of X-rays
Copernicium	Cn · 112	Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus
Nihonium	Nh · 113	Nihon, “Japan”
Flerovium	Fl · 114	Flerov Laboratory, after physicist Georgy Flyorov
Moscovium	Mc · 115	The Moscow region
Livermorium	Lv · 116	Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California
Tennessine	Ts · 117	The state of Tennessee
Oganesson	Og · 118	Physicist Yuri Oganessian, still living when named

The actinides

All actinides are radioactive. Uranium, neptunium and plutonium follow the order of the outer planets, and later ones honor the scientists and places behind their discovery.

Element	Symbol · No.	Where the name comes from
Actinium	Ac · 89	Greek aktis, “ray”
Thorium	Th · 90	Thor, Norse god of thunder
Protactinium	Pa · 91	“Before actinium”, which it decays into
Uranium	U · 92	The planet Uranus
Neptunium	Np · 93	The planet Neptune
Plutonium	Pu · 94	Pluto
Americium	Am · 95	The Americas
Curium	Cm · 96	Marie and Pierre Curie
Berkelium	Bk · 97	Berkeley, California
Californium	Cf · 98	California
Einsteinium	Es · 99	Albert Einstein
Fermium	Fm · 100	Physicist Enrico Fermi
Mendelevium	Md · 101	Dmitri Mendeleev, creator of the periodic table
Nobelium	No · 102	Alfred Nobel
Lawrencium	Lr · 103	Ernest Lawrence, inventor of the cyclotron

Tips for learning the element names

Learn the patterns. Most metals end in -ium, the halogens end in -ine (fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, astatine, tennessine) and most noble gases end in -on.
Memorize the odd symbols separately. Only eleven elements have symbols taken from Latin or German names: Na, K, Fe, Cu, Ag, Sn, Sb, W, Au, Hg and Pb.
Group by story. Remember the “Ytterby four”, the planet trio (U, Np, Pu) and the mythological names (titanium, vanadium, promethium, thorium, niobium, tantalum).
Use a mnemonic. “Happy Henry Lives Beside Boron Cottage” covers H, He, Li, Be, B, C — make your own for each row.

Frequently asked questions

How many elements are on the periodic table?

There are 118 confirmed elements. The four most recent — nihonium, moscovium, tennessine and oganesson — received their official names in 2016.

Which elements are named after women?

Curium honors Marie Curie (together with Pierre) and meitnerium honors Lise Meitner. Several elements are also named after goddesses, like vanadium and cerium.

Why is the symbol for gold Au?

It comes from the Latin word for gold, aurum. Many older symbols come from Latin: Fe (ferrum, iron), Ag (argentum, silver) and Pb (plumbum, lead).

Which element has the longest name?

Rutherfordium, at 13 letters, is the longest official element name.

Which elements are named after places in the US?

Americium, berkelium, californium, livermorium and tennessine all honor American places or labs.

Who decides the names of new elements?

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) approves names proposed by the discovering team, which can honor a scientist, place, mythological concept, mineral or property.