Eris (dwarf Planet) - Name - Choosing An Official Name

Choosing An Official Name

According to science writer Govert Schilling, Brown initially wanted to call the object "Lila", after a concept in Hindu mythology that described the cosmos as the outcome of a game played by Brahma. The name was very similar to "Lilah", the name of Brown's newborn daughter. Brown was mindful of not making his name public before it had been officially accepted. He had done so with Sedna a year previously, and had been heavily criticised. However, he listed the address of his personal web page announcing the discovery as /~mbrown/planetlila and in the chaos following the controversy over the discovery of Haumea, forgot to change it. Rather than needlessly anger more of his fellow astronomers, he simply said that the webpage had been named for his daughter and dropped "Lila" from consideration.

Brown had also speculated that Persephone, the wife of the god Pluto, would be a good name for the object. The name had been used several times in science fiction, and was popular with the public, having handily won a poll conducted by New Scientist magazine ("Xena", despite only being a nickname, came fourth). However, this was not possible once the object was classified as a dwarf planet, because there is already an asteroid with that name, 399 Persephone. Because IAU regulations require a name from creation mythology for objects with orbital stability beyond Neptune’s orbit, the team had also been considering such possibilities.

With the dispute resolved, the discovery team proposed Eris on September 6, 2006. On September 13, 2006 this name was accepted as the official name by the IAU. Brown decided that, as the object had been considered a planet for so long, it deserved a name from Greek or Roman mythology, like the other planets. However, the asteroids had taken the vast majority of Graeco-Roman names. Eris, whom Brown described as his favourite goddess, had fortunately escaped inclusion. The name in part reflects the discord in the astronomical community caused by the debate over the object’s (and Pluto’s) nature.