# Meanings of minor-planet names: 260001–261000

As minor planet discoveries are confirmed, they are given a permanent number by the IAU's Minor Planet Center (MPC), 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 number-range that have received names, and explains the meanings of those names.
Official naming citations of newly named small Solar System bodies are approved and published in a bulletin by IAU's Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature (WGSBN). Before May 2021, citations were published in MPC's Minor Planet Circulars for many decades. Recent citations can also be found on the JPL Small-Body Database (SBDB). Until his death in 2016, German astronomer Lutz D. Schmadel compiled these citations into the Dictionary of Minor Planet Names (DMP) and regularly updated the collection.
Based on Paul Herget's The Names of the Minor Planets, Schmadel also researched the unclear origin of numerous asteroids, most of which had been named prior to World War II. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: SBDB New namings may only be added to this list below after official publication as the preannouncement of names is condemned. The WGSBN publishes a comprehensive guideline for the naming rules of non-cometary small Solar System bodies.

## Index100K200K300K400K500K600K

* 255,000s
* 256,000s
* 257,000s
* 258,000s
* 259,000s
* 260,000s
* 261,000s
* 262,000s
* 263,000s
* 264,000s
* 265,000s
* 260,001…
* 260,101…
* 260,201…
* 260,301…
* 260,401…
* 260,501…
* 260,601…
* 260,701…
* 260,801…
* 260,901…

## 260001–260100

| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
| 260098 Staargyula | 2004 ME$_5$ | Gyula Staar (born 1944) is a major figure of Hungarian scientific journalism. He has conducted long interviews with prominent mathematicians and physicists, most of which were also published in book form. He is the winner of the 2018 annual science communication award of the Club of Hungarian Science Journalists. | JPL · 260098 |

## 260101–260200

| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
| There are no named minor planets in this number range ||||

## 260201–260300

| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
| 260235 Attwood | 2004 RU$_{289}$ | Randy Attwood (born 1957), a Canadian editor who has served as national President of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. | JPL · 260235 |

## 260301–260400

| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
| 260366 Quanah | 2004 US$_3$ | Quanah Parker (c. 1852–1911), Native American and last chief of the Comanche Nation | JPL · 260366 |

## 260401–260500

| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
| There are no named minor planets in this number range ||||

## 260501–260600

| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
| 260508 Alagna | 2005 EU$_{51}$ | Roberto Alagna (born 1963), a French tenor of Sicilian origin. | JPL · 260508 |

## 260601–260700

| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
| 260601 Wesselényi | 2005 GP$_8$ | Miklós Wesselényi (1796–1850), a Hungarian statesman, leader of the upper house of the Diet, member of the Board of Academy of Sciences, and a hero of the 1838 Pest flood. | JPL · 260601 |
| 260676 Évethurière | 2005 JT$_{44}$ | Évelyne Gerlic, born Thurière (1944–2013), a researcher in nuclear physics, who worked at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), France. | JPL · 260676 |

## 260701–260800

| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
| 260724 Malherbe | 2005 KB$_{10}$ | Francois de Malherbe (1555–1628), a French poet and a great defender of the purity of French language. | JPL · 260724 |

## 260801–260900

| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
| 260824 Hermanus | 2005 PC$_{24}$ | Hermanus, a South African coastal town previously named "Hermanuspietersfontein", which was founded in honor of the man who taught Dutch to farmers' children | JPL · 260824 |
| 260886 Henritudor | 2005 QP$_{143}$ | Henri Owen Tudor (1859–1928), a Luxembourgish engineer and inventor. | JPL · 260886 |

## 260901–261000

| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
| 260906 Robichon | 2005 RR$_2$ | Noël Robichon (born 1967), a French astronomer, working at the Paris-Meudon Observatory. | JPL · 260906 |