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Elements named after places

Guess the names of the elements named after places
Only real places, mythological places don't count.
Extraterrestrial places (e.g. planets, asteroids) have their own quiz.
As of May 31, 2012 the IUPAC has officially approved the names for the elements 114 and 116
Quiz by bogomir
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Last updated: September 1, 2014
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First submittedOctober 28, 2012
Times taken1,425
Average score48.0%
Rating4.80
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Answer
Named after a continent which is commonly called the 'new world'
Americium
City in California with a famous University
Berkelium
State and homonymous university in the USA
Californium
Named after the island of Cyprus
Copper
German city, whose name literally means 'intestine city'
Darmstadtium
Town in Russia with the status of naukograd (town of science)
Dubnium
Named after a village on the Swedish island of Resarö near Stockholm (1)
Erbium
Named after a continent which is commonly called the 'old world'
Europium
Largest country in western Europe, famous for its wine and food
Francium
Latin name of the previous mentioned country
Gallium
Most populous country in the Europe, famous for its beer and leatherpants
Germanium
Latin name of Copenhagen
Hafnium
Latin name of the German state of Hesse
Hassium
Latin name of Stockholm
Holmium
Named after a research institute in California
Livermorium
Latin name of Paris
Lutetium
Named after a district in Thessalya, Greece
Magnesium
Named after the country in which Marie Curie was born
Polonium
Latin name of a long and important river in western Europe
Rhenium
Latin name of the largest country in the world
Ruthenium
Latin name of a peninsula in nothern Europe
Scandium
Named after a small village in the Scottish highlands
Strontium
Named after a village on the Swedish island of Resarö near Stockholm (2)
Terbium
Named after a village on the Swedish island of Resarö near Stockholm (3)
Ytterbium
Named after a village on the Swedish island of Resarö near Stockholm (4)
Yttrium
FentonsDad
+1
Level 86
Jul 29, 2013
Really cool quiz, although I didn't do very well. Learned from it! But I would argue that Poland (Polonium) was a *communist* country, but not "Soviet." From the clue, I was thinking...Latvia? Lithuania? Georgia? I.e., former Soviet republics.
bogomir
+1
Level 47
Jul 30, 2013
Hmm, that's a legitimate complain indeed. I think I'll change the clue for Polonium to make this one unambiguous. Thanks for the suggestion and I'm happy you enjoyed the quiz.
Mikethemangler
+1
Level 20
Nov 27, 2013
Doesn't Manganese also come from the same root as magnesium (and also magnet)? So wouldn't it also be named after a district in Thessalya, Greece?
Ian1979
+1
Level 71
Aug 31, 2014
How about Strontian/Strontium?
bogomir
+1
Level 47
Sep 2, 2014
Everyone makes mistakes, it should be fixed by now.
vmajzlik
+1
Level 55
Nov 28, 2014
samarium???
bogomir
+1
Level 47
Dec 4, 2014
Samarium was isolated from the mineral samarskite, named in honour of a Russian mine official, Colonel Samarski, and which therefore gave samarium its name.
vmajzlik
+1
Level 55
Nov 28, 2014
indium??
bogomir
+1
Level 47
Dec 4, 2014
Indium is named after the indigo line in it's spectrum
ThatNorwegianMapper
+2
Level 58
Apr 15, 2017
Nihonium? After Japan (Because Nihon is Japan Japanese)
bogomir
+1
Level 47
Apr 21, 2017
You're correct, last year IUPAC made the name of four new elements official. I just didn't keep the quiz up to date since it's already three years old, not that popular and not eligible for points.
sumguy
+4
Level 84
Feb 28, 2018
I know it happened after you wrote the quiz, but it only takes a few minutes to add Moscovium, Nihonium, and Tennesine. It won't be a constant labour; there may not be any new elements now that 118 has been named. Anyway, you also missed Manganese which, like Magnesium, was named after Magnesia. Also, Thulium was named after Thule, whose location is still debated, but was probably Norway. You could say something like, "A location on medieval maps, whose exact location is unknown", or just say "Ultima ____".
Sifhraven
+1
Level 67
Dec 30, 2018
Agree with everything that sumguy said ( besides that thule was probably norway ;) (spend quite some time researching it myself) but indeed you could say a mythological place shown on old maps because of mention in old documents about a place far north ( sorry for the bad english).
GeographyGeek42
+4
Level 66
Jul 1, 2018
nihonium, tennessine and moscovium should be on here. Nihonium is named for Japan. Tennessine is named after Tennessee and Moscovium is named for Moscow respectively.
PeregrineFalcon
+1
Level 76
Oct 1, 2019
Nice quiz! Note that Europe is not synonymous with the old world, but rather part of it, along with Asia and Africa. And the spelling is Thessaly, without the a at the end.
ajbeck
+1
Level 83
Jul 13, 2020
Also Rhodium was named after Rhodesia if I remember correctly
Charliezard
+1
Level 66
Nov 21, 2021
No, it was named for the Greek for red, "rhodon." I belive Rhodes was named for that too.
aloepottt
+1
Level 48
Jun 25, 2021
how did that small place in sweden get two elements named after it?
PiMan87
+3
Level 44
Jun 25, 2021
four
BigFloppa
+1
Level 63
Dec 14, 2021
According to Wikipedia, "Ytterby is perhaps most famous for being the single richest source of elemental discoveries in the world; the chemical elements yttrium (Y), terbium (Tb), erbium (Er), and ytterbium (Yb) are all named after Ytterby, whilst four more elements were first discovered there."
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