Meanings of minor planet names: 31001–32000
As minor planet discoveries are confirmed, they are given a permanent number by the IAU's Minor Planet Center, and the discoverers can then submit names for them, following the IAU's naming conventions. The list below concerns those minor planets in the specified span of numbers that have received names, and explains the meanings of those names. Besides the Minor Planet Circulars (in which the citations are published), a key source is Lutz D. Schmadel's Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. Meanings that do not quote a reference (the "†" links) are tentative.
Minor planets not yet given a name have not been included in this list.
| Name | Provisional Designation | Source of Name |
|---|---|---|
| 31001–31100 | ||
| 31015 Boccardi | 1996 DS1 | Giovanni Boccardi, Director of the Turin Observatory from 1900 until 1923 † |
| 31020 Skarupa | 1996 FP1 | Valerie Skarupa, American AMOS program manager † |
| 31028 Cerulli | 1996 HH1 | Vincenzo Cerulli, Italian astronomer † |
| 31043 Sturm | 1996 LT | Charles-François Sturm, 19th-century Swiss-French mathematician † |
| 31031 Altiplano | 1996 HV20 | The Altiplano in the central Andes lies mostly within Bolivia and Peru, and hosts the cities of Puno, Potosi, Cuzco and La Paz. † |
| 31032 Scheidemann | 1996 HS22 | Heinrich Scheidemann (c. 1595-1663), a composer † |
| 31037 Mydon | 1996 HZ25 | Mydon, a Paeonian charioteer fighting for the Trojans, was killed by Achilles near the Skamander river. † |
| 31061 Tamao | 1996 TK7 | Tamao Nakamura, Japanese actress † |
| 31065 Beishizhang | 1996 TZ13 | Shi-Zhang Bei, Chinese biophysicist, member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, on the occasion of his 100th birthday † |
| 31086 Gehringer | 1997 AT17 | Tom Gehringer, American teacher † |
| 31087 Oirase | 1997 AA22 | Oirase, the name of a gorge which runs through Towada, a city in Aomori Prefecture. † |
| 31095 Buneiou | 1997 DH | King Muryeong, known in Japanese as Buneiou, (462-523) was the 25th king of Baekje, an ancient kingdom located in the southwest of the Korean peninsula. † |
| 31097 Nucciomula | 1997 JM11 | Alfonso Maria Giovanni Mula, Italian (Sicilian) art critic, poet and writer, founder of the Empedocles International Academy of Culture and Philosophical Investigation, recipient of the 1994 Premio Telemone for literature † |
| 31098 Frankhill | 1997 LQ2 | Frank Hill, American astronomer and heliosismologist † |
| 31101–31200 | ||
| 31105 Oguniyamagata | 1997 OW2 | Oguni, town which is situated in the southwestern part of Yamagata prefecture Japan † |
| 31109 Janpalouš | 1997 PL4 | Jan Palouš, Czech astronomer at the Astronomický Ústav (Astronomical Institute) of the Akademie věd České republiky (Czech Academy of Sciences), instrumental in negotiating the entry of the Czech Republic into the European Southern Observatory † |
| 31110 Clapas | 1997 PN4 | Clapàs, an occitan word meaning « pile of rock debris », now the nickname of the Montpellier area of France † |
| 31113 Stull | 1997 QC | John Stull, American telescope maker, builder of the observatory at Alfred University † |
| 31122 Brooktaylor | 1997 SD | Brook Taylor, 17th-18th-century British mathematician. † |
| 31124 Slavíček | 1997 SJ1 | Karel Slavícek, Jesuit missionary and scientist was the first Czech sinologist. † |
| 31129 Langyatai | 1997 SR10 | Langyatai, a three-story platform with a perimeter of several kilometers, was built along the Langya Mountain and beside the Yellow Sea with rammed earth more than 2,200 years ago. † |
| 31134 Zurria | 1997 SF18 | Giuseppe Zurria, professor of mathematics at the University of Catania † |
| 31139 Garnavich | 1997 SJ34 | Peter M. Garnavich, American observational astrophysicist and associate professor at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana † |
| 31147 Miriquidi | 1997 UA4 | A synonym for the Erzgebirge, a 10th-century Old Saxon word meaning "an impenetrable great dark forest" † |
| 31152 Daishinsai | 1997 UV21 | The Higashi Nihon Dai Shinsai earthquake of 2011 March 11 caused widespread destruction in eastern Japan and killed about 20000 people. † |
| 31151 Sajichugaku | 1997 UM21 | Saji chugaku is a junior high school in Saji with an astronomical observatory. † |
| 31175 Erikafuchs | 1997 XV7 | Erika Fuchs (1906–2005), translator of Disney stories. † |
| 31179 Gongju | 1997 YR2 | Gongju, a city located in Chungcheongnam-do Province of Korea. † |
| 31189 Tricomi | 1997 YZ7 | Francesco Giacomo Tricomi, 20th-century Italian mathematician † |
| 31190 Toussaint | 1997 YB12 | Roberta Marie Toussaint, American experimental physicist † |
| 31192 Aigoual | 1997 YH16 | Mont Aigoual, highest (1567 m) mountain of the Cévennes of southern France † |
| 31196 Yulong | 1997 YL18 | Yulong (meaning jade dragon) is the only Naxi language autonomous county in China † |
| 31201–31300 | ||
| 31203 Hersman | 1998 AO9 | Chris Becker Hersman, American spacecraft systems engineer for the New Horizons Pluto Kuiper Belt mission † |
| 31231 Uthmann | 1998 CA | Barbara Uthmann, 16th-century German businesswoman, said to have introduced the art of lace-making in the Erzgebirge Mountains of Saxony † |
| 31232 Slavonice | 1998 CF | Slavonice, Czech Republic † |
| 31238 Kroměříž | 1998 DT1 | Kroměříž, Moravia, Czech Republic, whose gardens and castle are a UNESCO World Heritage Site † |
| 31239 Michaeljames | 1998 DV1 | Michael James, American high-school teacher of English † |
| 31240 Katrianne | 1998 DB2 | Katrin Susanne Lehmann, German teacher of physics and astronomy, and wife of the discoverer † |
| 31266 Tournefort | 1998 EZ13 | Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, French botanist † |
| 31267 Kuldiga | 1998 ES14 | Kuldīga, Latvia † |
| 31268 Welty | 1998 FA | Sandra Welty, American high-school teacher of English † |
| 31271 Nallino | 1998 FH16 | Carlo Alfonso Nallino, Italian orientalist † |
| 31301–31400 | ||
| 31402 Negishi | 1999 AR | Hiroyuki Negishi (b. 1964), a Japanese amateur astronomer. † |
| 31323 Lysá hora | 1998 HC29 | Lysá hora, highest (1323 m) mountain of the Beskids (Beskydy) mountain range, the Czech Republic † |
| 31324 Jiřímrázek | 1998 HR31 | Jiří Mrázek, 20th-century Czech geophysicist, TV and radio popularizer of astronautics, astronomy, computer science and related subjects † |
| 31338 Lipperhey | 1998 HX147 | Hans Lipperhey, 16th-17th-century Dutch lensmaker, inventor of Dutch perspective glass, and first to design and seek a patent for a practical telescope † |
| 31363 Shulga | 1998 VS44 | Valery Mikhailovich Shulga, Ukrainian radio astronomer † |
| 31401–31500 | ||
| 31414 Rotarysusa | 1999 AV22 | Rotary Club, Val Susa, Italy † |
| 31431 Cabibbo | 1999 BP9 | Nicola Cabibbo, Italian physicist † |
| 31442 Stark | 1999 CY1 | Lawrence W. Stark, American professor emeritus of physiological optics and engineering † |
| 31451 Joenickell | 1999 CE10 | Joe Nickell, the Senior Research Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry † |
| 31458 Delrosso | 1999 CG16 | Renzo Del Rosso, Italian amateur astronomer † |
| 31501–31600 | ||
| 31531 ARRL | 1999 CQ137 | American Radio Relay League, the largest membership organization of radio amateurs in the United States † |
| 31555 Wheeler | 1999 EV2 | John Archibald Wheeler, American theoretical physicist † |
| 31601–31700 | ||
| 31605 Braschi | 1999 GM4 | Nicoletta Braschi, Italian actress † |
| 31650 Frýdek-Místek | 1999 HW | Frýdek-Místek, twin cities on the Silesia-Moravia border, Czech Republic, the discoverer's childhood home town † |
| 31664 Randiiwessen | 1999 JR2 | Randii Wessen, American program engineer at JPL † |
| 31665 Veblen | 1999 JZ2 | Oswald Veblen, early 20th-century American mathematician † |
| 31671 Masatoshi | 1999 JY7 | Masatoshi Nakamura, Japanese actor and singer † |
| 31801–31900 | ||
| 31823 Viète | 1999 TN3 | François Viète, 16th-century French lawyer and mathematician, inventor of the modern algebraic notation † |
| 31824 Elatus | 1999 UG5 | Elatus, mythological centaur, killed during a battle with Hercules by a poisoned arrow that passed through his arm and continued to wound Chiron in the knee † |
| 31872 Terkán | 2000 EL106 | Lajos Terkán, early 20th-century member of the staff of the Konkoly Obszervatórium (Konkoly Observatory), who proposed and initiated the photographic observation of comets and minor planets there † |
| 31876 Jenkens | 2000 EA142 | Robert Jenkens (b. 1962), Deputy Project Manager for the OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission. † |
| 31877 Davideverett | 2000 EX144 | David Everett (b. 1964), Project Systems Engineer for the OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission. † |
| 31901–32000 | ||
| 31931 Sipiera | 2000 GW82 | Paul P. Sipiera, American planetary geologist and meteoricist † |
| 31956 Wald | 2000 GA133 | Abraham Wald, 20th-century American statistician † |
| 31982 Johnwallis | 2000 HS20 | John Wallis, 17th-century British mathematician, inventor of the symbol ∞ for infinity † |
| 31984 Unger | 2000 HR23 | Adam Unger (b. 1919), a basket maker by profession, was heavily involved in the construction of the Starkenburg Observatory. † |
| Preceded by 30,001–31,000 |
Meanings of minor planet names List of minor planets: 31,001–32,000 |
Succeeded by 32,001–33,000 |