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Name Origins
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Name Origins

The responsibility of providing mineral names for new species rests with the author(s) of the original paper (with approval of the Commission on New Minerals and Mineral Names (CNMMN) of the International Mineralogical Association (IMA)).

Minerals are commonly named based on the following:

Minerals Named after women

One of the real anomalies is the absence of minerals named after women. Here is an incomplete listing of minerals (81) which were named after women (e.g., abswurmbachite, allabogdanite, andremeyerite, ankinovichite, aurivilliusite, bario-olgite, benyacarite, bezsmertnovite, bonshtedtite, bornemanite, brassite, brodtdorbite, bussenite, caichengyunite, caresite, carnotite, cattiite, chantalite, charmarite-2H, charmarite-3T, christelite, chursinite, clairite, cuprosklodowskite, curite, dellaite, donnayite-(Y), dugganite, effenbergerite, eylettersite, ferri-ottoliniite, gaidonnayite, giniite, graulichite-(Ce), gutkovaite-Mn, henmilite, horvathite-(Y), jeanbandyite, juanitaite, kimrobinsonite, kogarkoite, kostylevite, kraisslite, krasnovite, kuzmenkoite-Mn, kuzmenkoite-Zn, labuntsovite-Fe, labuntsovite-Mg, labuntsovite-Mn, larisaite, laurite, liandratite, lindbergite, lonsdaleite, malhmoodite, malinkoite, manganese-shadlunite, marialite, marsturite, mcnearite, mitryaevaite, mozgovaite, mroseite, nabokoite, novgorodovaite, obertiite, odintsovite, olgite, organovaite-Mn, organovaite-Zn, paganoite, paraschachnerite, Perlialite, petrovskaite, rimkorolgite, rondorfite, rosemaryite, sabinaite, sakharovaite, santabarbaraite, sazykinaite-(Y), schachnerite, seelite-1, seelite-2, shadlunite, silvialite, sklodowskite, sophiite, szenicsite, tatyanaite, telyushenkoite, theresemagnanite, vergasovaite, weeksite, winstanleyite, yakhontovite).

If you know of any more, please send your candidate to mailto://webmaster@webmineral.com.

Minerals Named for the Same Person

Having a mineral named after a person is a great honor. The following short list are those people who have more than one completely unrelated mineral named after them.

Other Sources of Mineral Name Origins

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