# Meanings of minor-planet names: 53001–54000

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

* 48,000s
* 49,000s
* 50,000s
* 51,000s
* 52,000s
* 53,000s
* 54,000s
* 55,000s
* 56,000s
* 57,000s
* 58,000s
* 53,001…
* 53,101…
* 53,201…
* 53,301…
* 53,401…
* 53,501…
* 53,601…
* 53,701…
* 53,801…
* 53,901…

## 53001–53100

| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
| 53005 Antibes | 1998 VW$_2$ | A Greek trading post founded in the 5th century BCE, the city of Antibes Juan-les-Pins was fortified at various times. | IAU · 53005 |
| 53029 Wodetzky | 1998 WY$_6$ | József Wodetzky (1872–1956), a Hungarian astronomer and mathematician who was director of the Astronomical Institute of Pázmány Péter University from 1934 to 1942. His research was in classical astronomy, mainly concerned with the three-body problem and the motion of the Moon. | JPL · 53029 |
| 53053 Sabinomaffeo | 1998 XH$_9$ | Father Sabino Maffeo, S.J. (1922–2025), a great educator in the Massimiliano Massimo Jesuit college in Rome, provincial of the Roman Province of the Society of Jesus and technical director of Vatican Radio. | IAU · 53053 |
| 53055 Astrogapra | 1998 XT$_{14}$ | GAPRA (Groupement d'Astronomie Populaire de la Région d'Antibes) is the leading astronomy association on the Côte d'Azur in Southern France. | IAU · 53055 |
| 53088 Mauricehirsch | 1998 YF$_5$ | Maurice Hirsch (1902–1988), a French teacher. | IAU · 53088 |
| 53093 La Orotava | 1998 YO$_{12}$ | La Orotava, a town and municipality in the northern part of the Island of Tenerife | JPL · 53093 |

## 53101–53200

| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
| 53109 Martinphillipps | 1999 AD$_5$ | Martin Phillipps (1963–2024), lead singer of the Dunedin rock band The Chills, whose music forms the backbone of the so-called "Dunedin sound." | IAU · 53109 |
| 53127 Adrienklotz | 1999 AH$_{25}$ | Adrien N. Klotz (b. 1999), a French amateur astronomer. | IAU · 53127 |
| 53137 Gabytutty | 1999 BL$_4$ | Gabriela Paz Protz Miqueles (b. 1988), a Chilean landscape architect and muralist. | IAU · 53137 |
| 53157 Akaishidake | 1999 CP | Akaishidake Mountain, Shizuoka, Japan | JPL · 53157 |
| 53159 Mysliveček | 1999 CN$_3$ | Josef Mysliveček (1737–1781), a Czech composer from the period of early classicism. He worked in Italy (Il divino Boemo) beginning in 1763. He composed orchestral works, oratorios and operas. | JPL · 53159 |

## 53201–53300

| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
| 53237 Simonson | 1999 CU$_{118}$ | Walter Simonson (born 1946) is an American comic book writer and artist. | JPL · 53237 |
| 53250 Beucher | 1999 DY$_3$ | Jacqueline Beucher (born 1947) has been a tireless promoter of astronomy for several decades. She has served in various official roles for the Astronomical Society of Kansas City and the Astronomical League. Beucher also has helped plan and organize many astronomy conventions and has led several solar eclipse tours. | JPL · 53250 |
| 53252 Sardegna | 1999 EY$_4$ | Sardinia, in Italian | JPL · 53252 |
| 53253 Zeiler | 1999 EV$_5$ | Michael Zeiler (born 1956) is a technical writer at the Environmental Systems Research Institute who helped develop the ArcGIS geographic information system | JPL · 53253 |
| 53256 Sinitiere | 1999 FD | Robert Sinitiere (born 1950), an amateur astronomer and pharmacist. | JPL · 53256 |
| 53285 Mojmír | 1999 FM$_{53}$ | Mojmír, ruler of the Great Moravian Empire from (830–845/46). He promoted Christianity in his empire, trying to attach Moravia to Western Europe. | JPL · 53285 |

## 53301–53400

| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
| 53311 Deucalion | 1999 HU$_{11}$ | Deucalion, the Ancient Greek mythological Adam. After a flood in which all humans were drowned except for Deucalion and (his wife) Pyrrha, an oracle tells them to "throw the bones of their mother" behind them. Puzzled, they decided that their mother is Earth and her bones are stones. The stones they then threw over their shoulders sprang up into people to repopulate the world. | JPL · 53311 |
| 53316 Michielford | 1999 JY$_3$ | Michiel Ford, American amateur astronomer, recipient of a Milken National Educator Award | JPL · 53316 |

## 53401–53500

| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
| 53435 Leonard | 1999 VM$_{40}$ | Gregory J. Leonard (b. 1963), an American geologist and planetary scientist. | IAU · 53435 |
| 53468 Varros | 2000 AC$_2$ | George Varros (born 1959) is an amateur astronomer who helped NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office popularize lunar-meteoroid-impact monitoring by amateur astronomers, for the purpose of assessing the dangers to future astronauts during prolonged visits to the lunar surface. | JPL · 53468 |

## 53501–53600

| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
| 53537 Zhangyun | 2000 AZ$_{239}$ | Yun Zhang (born 1990) is a post-doctoral researcher at Université Côte d'Azur whose studies include the numerical modeling of asteroid surfaces and interiors, placing strong constraints on their mechanical and strength properties based on their observed physical properties. | IAU · 53537 |

## 53601–53700

| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
| 53629 Andrewpotter | 2000 CJ$_{112}$ | Andrew E. Potter (born 1926) is a space scientist who discovered the sodium and potassium components of the atmospheres of both Mercury and the moon. | JPL · 53629 |
| 53640 Marché | 2000 DT$_{14}$ | Jordan Marché (born 1955) is an astronomy educator in planetaria, astronomy colleges and universities from Pennsylvania to Nevada. He has written on American planetaria, astronomers and other astronomical topics. Jordan has also been an amateur telescope maker publishing articles on optical designs and tests. | IAU · 53640 |

## 53701–53800

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

## 53801–53900

| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
| 53817 Gertrudebacon | 2000 EO$_{138}$ | Gertrude Bacon (1874–1949), a British aeronautical pioneer. | IAU · 53817 |
| 53818 Isispogson | 2000 EV$_{138}$ | Isis Pogson (1852–1945), a British astronomer and meteorologist. | IAU · 53818 |
| 53839 Schölkopf | 2000 EY$_{197}$ | Bernhard Schölkopf (b. 1968), the founder and director of the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and a professor at ETH Zurich. | IAU · 53839 |
| 53843 Antjiekrog | 2000 FG$_{10}$ | Antjie Krog (born 1952), a South African writer. | JPL · 53843 |

## 53901–54000

| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
| 53910 Jánfischer | 2000 GF$_4$ | Ján Fischer (1905–1980) was a theoretical physicist and professor at Comenius University, Bratislava. He studied interaction between matter and electromagnetic radiation and significantly contributed to the quantum theory of photoelectric effect and Compton phenomenon. | JPL · 53910 |