New Elements Fl, Lv Named

You can pencil two new elements onto your periodic table, because prospective elements 114 and 116 have finally gotten names. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry today dubbed the two elements flerovium (Fl) and livermorium (Lv) respectively, MSNBC reports. But do use pencil, because the names aren’t entirely official yet—they have to wait through a five-month public comment period first.

The two elements have been waiting for their names and abbreviations ever since the IUPAC confirmed them in June. Flerovium was the frontrunner for 114 all along—it’s a tribute to Russia’s Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions, where the elements were first created. The early rumor was that 116 would be named muscovium because the lab is in Moscow, but it’s instead been named in honor of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, where some of the scientists who helped discover it are based. (More chemistry stories.)