elemental names?

Question

Gold is Au for aurora, goddess of the morning. Are there any other elements that drew their names from figures? gods, goddesses, the person that found it etc.

Answer 1

* bohrium (Bh, 107) – Niels Bohr
* curium (Cm, 96) – Pierre and Marie Curie
* einsteinium (Es, 99) – Albert Einstein
* fermium (Fm, 100) – Enrico Fermi
* gallium (Ga, 31) – although named after Gallia (Latin for France), the discoverer of the metal Lecoq de Boisbaudran subtly attached an association with his name. Lecoq (rooster) in Latin is gallus.
* gadolinium (Gd, 64) – Johan Gadolin
* hahnium (105) – Otto Hahn. This element name is not accepted by IUPAC. See element naming controversy.
* kurchatovium (Ku, 104) – Igor Kurchatov. This element name is not accepted by IUPAC. See element naming controversy.
* lawrencium (Lr, 103) – Ernest Lawrence
* meitnerium (Mt, 109) – Lise Meitner
* mendelevium (Md, 101) – Dmitri Mendeleev
* nobelium (No, 102) – Alfred Nobel
* roentgenium (Rg, 111) – Wilhelm Roentgen
* rutherfordium (Rf, 104) – Ernest Rutherford
* seaborgium (Sg, 106) – Glenn T. Seaborg
* niobium (Nb, 41) – Niobe, a mortal woman in Greek mythology
* promethium (Pm, 61) – Prometheus, a Titan from Greek mythology
* tantalum (Ta, 73) – Tantalus, from Greek mythology
* thorium (Th, 90) – Thor, the Norse god of thunder
* titanium (Ti, 22) – the Titans, from Greek mythology
* vanadium (V, 23) – Scandinavian goddess Vanadis (Freyja)

Many chemical elements are named after astronomical bodies which are named after Greek or Roman deities. See Chemical elements named after places.
* Gadolinium (Gd, 64) is named from the mineral gadolinite, which in turn is named after the Finnish chemist and geologist Johan Gadolin.
* Samarium (Sm, 62) is named from the mineral samarskite which in turn is named after Vasili Samarsky-Bykhovets, a Russian mine official.
* americium – The Americas
* berkelium – city of Berkeley, California, home of the University of California
* 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

Answer 2

Lawrencium- After Prof. Lawrence
Curium- After Pierre & Marie Curie
Berkelium- After the place Berkley
Bohrium- After Prof. Niels Bohr
Rutherfordium- After Prof. Rutherford
Hahnium- After Auto Hahn
And many others

Answer 3

The origin of the letters Au as the chemical symbol for gold derives from the Latin "Aurum", meaning "gold". Curium is named after Marie Curie, who first isolated Uranium.

Answer 4

Curium is named after Marie Curie. (She named polonium after her country of origin, Poland). There are other ones named after scientists: einsteinium, rutherfordium, lawrencium, bohrium, and so on.

Titanium is named after the Titans; see Wikipedia. Mercury is named after a Roman messenger deity. Tantalum is named after Tantalus, a son of Zeus. Plutonium is named after Pluto, a deity and a (former) planet; neptunium also falls in these categories.

There are many elements named after countries and regions; polonium as I already mentioned, scandium is named after Scandinavia. Indium is named after India, and americium is named after America. Berkelium is named after a city in California, Berkeley.

Answer 5

Not as many as you would think. In fact, gold did not directly derive its name from that goddess. It was derived from the Latin root, Aurum, meaning shining dawn. Many of the symbols are derived from Latin roots of physical properties or places of origin as opposed to gods or goddesses. For example:

Mercury (Hg):
Latin, hydragyrum, meaning liquid silver

Lead (Pb):
Latin, plumbum, meaning heavy

Silver (Ag):
Latin, argentum, meaning silver or money

Copper (Cu):
Latin, cuprum, from the island of Cyprus, anciently renowned for its copper mines

Iron (Fe):
Latin, ferrum, for iron or sword

Tungsten (W):
Latin, wolfram, from wolframite, an ore said to be named from wolf rahm or spumi lupi, because the ore interfered with the smelting of tin and was supposed to devour the tin, much like a wolf devouring a sheep

Answer 6

Mercury - the Roman messenger of the gods.

Answer 7

Einsteinium was named after someone, but I forgot who.