Meanings of minor planet names: 39001–40000
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 Meanings that do not quote a reference (the "†" links) are tentative.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 |
|---|---|---|
| 39101–39200 | ||
| 39184 Willgrundy | 2000 WG166 | William ("Will") M. Grundy, astronomer at Lowell Observatory † |
| 39301–39400 | ||
| 39335 Caccin | 2002 AR12 | Bruno Caccin, Italian astronomer † |
| 39336 Mariacapria | 2002 AA13 | Maria Teresa Capria, Italian astronomer † |
| 39382 Opportunity | 2696 P-L | Opportunity, Mars Exploration Rover B † |
| 39401–39500 | ||
| 39405 Mosigkau | 1063 T-1 | Mosigkau castle, near Dessau, Germany, a relic of the Rococo period, built between 1752 and 1757 as a summer residence for Princess Anna Wilhelmine von Anhalt-Dessau † |
| 39415 Janeausten | 4231 T-1 | Jane Austen, English novelist † |
| 39420 Elizabethgaskell | 2084 T-2 | Elizabeth Gaskell (1810–1865) was a 19th-century English novelist, best known for her 1853 novel Cranford. † |
| 39427 Charlottebrontë | 3360 T-2 | Charlotte Brontë, English novelist and poet, best known for Jane Eyre † |
| 39428 Emilybrontë | 4169 T-2 | Emily Brontë, English novelist and poet, who wrote only one novel, Wuthering Heights † |
| 39429 Annebrontë | 4223 T-2 | Anne Brontë, English novelist and poet, best known for The Tenant of Wildfell Hall † |
| 39463 Phyleus | 1973 SZ | Phyleus, son of King Augeas of Elis, and father of Meges, who led the contingent from Dulichium to the Trojan War † |
| 39464 Pöppelmann | 1973 UO5 | Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, 17th-century German architect † |
| 39501–39600 | ||
| 39509 Kardashev | 1981 US11 | Nikolai Kardashev (born 1932), director of the Astrospace Center of the Lebedev Physical Institute. † |
| 39529 Vatnajökull | 1989 VJ1 | Vatnajökull (Glacier of Lakes), the largest glacier in Iceland. † |
| 39536 Lenhof | 1990 TA11 | Helmut Lenhof, a retired professor of physics. He was one of the founders of the Carinthian Astronomical Association in Klagenfurt, Austria. † |
| 39539 Emmadesmet | 1991 GU4 | Emma de Smet (2005) is the second granddaughter of the discoverer, and daughter of Mayré and Robby. † |
| 39540 Borchert | 1991 GF11 | Wolfgang Borchert, German poet and writer † |
| 39543 Aubriet | 1991 PX7 | Claude Aubriet, French painter † |
| 39549 Casals | 1992 DP13 | Pablo Casals, Spanish (Catalan)-American cellist, composer and conductor † |
| 39557 Gielgud | 1992 JG | John Gielgud, British actor † |
| 39558 Kishine | 1992 KC | Junichiro Kishine, Japanese theoretical physicist and amateur astronomer † |
| 39564 Tarsia | 1992 RT5 | Rodrigo Dias Tarsia, Brazilian astrophysicist and retired professor at the Federal University in Belo Horizonte † |
| 39566 Carllewis | 1992 SQ1 | Frederick Carlton "Carl" Lewis, former American track and field athlete † |
| 39571 Pückler | 1992 SN24 | Herman Graf von Pückler, German landscaper and writer † |
| 39601–39700 | ||
| 39635 Kusatao | 1994 YL | Kusatao Nakamura, Chinese-born Japanese Haiku poet † |
| 39645 Davelharris | 1995 QC10 | David Lowell Harris, 20th-century American astronomer, member of the "pre-LINEAR" observing team at Socorro during 1995–1996 † |
| 39655 Muneharuasada | 1995 UM3 | Muneharu Asada (born 1961), a member of the Yamagata Astronomical Society. † |
| 39677 Anagaribaldi | 1996 EG | Ana Maria de Jesus Ribeiro da Silva di Garibaldi (Anita Garibaldi), Brazilian-born heroine of the Italian resurgence and wife of Giuseppe Garibaldi † |
| 39678 Ammannito | 1996 LQ1 | Eleonora Ammannito, Italian astronomer and space scientist † |
| 39679 Nukuhiyama | 1996 OD3 | Nukuhiyama, a mountain which is located in the west of the discoverer's home town, Shirataka, Yamagata prefecture. † |
| 39686 Takeshihara | 1996 PT9 | Takeshi Hara, a member of the Yamagata Astronomical Society in 2009 and actively popularizes astronomy. † |
| 39699 Ernestocorte | 1996 TF8 | Ernesto Corte, American entrepreneur, founder of Gamma-Metrics, pioneer in the application of radiation physics to elemental analysis of materials † |
| 39701–39800 | ||
| 39726 Hideyukitezuka | 1996 VL38 | Hideyuki Tezuka, a member of the Nanyo Astronomical Lovers Club. † |
| 39741 Komm | 1997 AT6 | Rudolf Walter Komm, American helioseismologist † |
| 39748 Guccini | 1997 BJ3 | Francesco Guccini, Italian folk composer and singer † |
| 39791 Jameshesser | 1997 PH4 | James E. Hesser, Canadian astronomer † |
| 39799 Hadano | 1997 UO1 | Hadano, Kanagawa, Japan, where the Hadano Astronomical Observatory is located † |
| 39801–39900 | ||
| 39809 Fukuchan | 1997 WB30 | Fukuchan, cartoon character created by Ryuichi Yokoyama † |
| 39849 Giampieri | 1998 CF2 | Giuliano Giampieri, friend of the first discoverer † |
| 39864 Poggiali | 1998 DH20 | Maurizio Poggiali, poet, aircraft navigator and aerospace engineer † |
| 39880 Dobšinský | 1998 ER9 | Pavol Emanuel Dobsinský, a Lutheran pastor, folklorist, literary historian, editor and translator † |
| 39890 Bobstephens | 1998 FA3 | Robert Stephens, American amateur astronomer † |
| 39901–40000 | ||
| 39930 Kalauch | 1998 FR74 | Klaus-Dieter Kalauch, German amateur astronomer and teacher of astronomy, inspiration for the discoverer † |
| 39971 József | 1998 GN10 | Attila József, Hungarian poet † |
| Preceded by 38,001–39,000 |
Meanings of minor planet names List of minor planets: 39,001–40,000 |
Succeeded by 40,001–41,000 |