Winners & Runners Up Announced!  

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The Naming X team is delighted to announce the winners and runners up of Naming X, a global online competition launched in honour of Venetia Burney Phair who named the minor planet Pluto in 1930, aged 11.

Press release (pdf)

In each of the three categories the Winners and Runners Up are:


Category One - 1 - 11years

Winner:- Glissade
Reason: Planet Glissade sounds beautiful. Glissade means to glide along, as in ballet, which is like a planet, which glides along in the universe.
Name by: Erica Reed, 10years old, USA.


Runners Up:-

Name: Sumer
Reason: I believe a planet should be named "Sumer." Sumerians are from Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization, and we should honor our first civilization on earth.
Name by: Brenden Reed, 8years old, USA


Name: Naveen
Reason: Naveen is the synonym of Newness, change and something different. So I chose this name for a NEW planet.
Name by: Akansha Sharma, 8years old, India


Name: Bellaroccia
Reason: It means beautiful rock. Someday someone might live there, it should have a nice name.
Name by: Jane Fenske Newbart, 7years old, USA



Category Two - 12+ years

Winner:- Erytheia
Reason: In Greek mythology, an island at the western edge of the world bathed red by the light of the setting sun.
Name by: Nathan Phillips, 15years old, USA


Runners Up:-

Name: Seshat
Reason: Seshat was an ancient Egyptian goddess of astronomy and wisdom, among other things.
Name by: Emily Temple-Wood, 15years old, USA


Name: Anima
Reason: Anima is an Italic word, which it mean the soul. Finding a new planet make us more curious as it may bring new expectations to our soul to live on a new planet like as the Earth.
Name by: Nuwani Ishara Thotawatta, 16years old, Sri Lanka


Name: Astraeus
Reason: Was the Titan god of the stars and planets, and the art of astrology.
Name by: Christina Thowsen, 12years old, United Kingdom


Name: Makrilios
Reason: Makrilios is a contraction of the Greek words makrinos, meaning far, and ilios, meaning sun. This is because at Kuiper belt distances, the sun is far.
Name by: Deanta Kelly, 12years old, USA



Category Three – Schools, Groups and Astronomy Clubs

Winner:- Virgil
Reason: In honor of both the poet and the astronaut (Grissom).
Name by: Bruce McHam - McKinney High School, USA


Runners Up:-

Name: Serendipity
Reason: The children think Serendipity is a great name because many great scientific discoveries are a combination of hard work and good luck!!
Name by: Neighborhood After School Science Association (NASSA), USA


Name: De Winne
Reason: Frank De Winne was the first ISS Commander worked for ESA.
Name by: Oberon, USA


Name: Umex
Reason: We represent our naming X in a simple equation: (U + Me = Us). Thus, Umex.
Name by: Young Astronomers, Ghana



Winners will receive a copy of the award-winning documentary of Venetia’s story, Naming Pluto and a film poster, care of Father Films, telescope time care of Bellatrix Observatory, Italy and a signed certificate from our judges. Winning names will be included in a formal proposal to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Committee for Small Body Nomenclature (CSBN).

The team and jury did not plan to select Runners Up for Naming X but as several names stood out we would like to extend a special mention to our Runners Up by way of a signed certificate from our judging panel.


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