In sci.astro Henry Spencer wrote:
: In article ,
: William C. Keel wrote:
: Sep 06 - Asteroid 2991 Bilbo Closest Approach To Earth (1.000 AU)
: Bagginses agains. Pfui.
:
:Clear favoritism. Quick perusal of thee asteroid name list turns up
:not a single Frodo, Samwise, Gollum, Aragorn, or Gimli...

: Check the derivation of the name before jumping to conclusions. It may
: not be from the Tolkien character. If memory serves, "Bilbo" and variants
: on it are sometimes seen as Italian surnames.

Nope, (2991) Bilbo is named for Bilbo Baggins. I should know, I did
the naming for that object.

:...Now. if one of the ones I
:occasionally come across were still unnamed... I don't know of
:any rules requiring that the mythological names be of actually ancient
:origin.

: Asteroid names don't have to be mythological at all. There's one named
: after Frank Zappa, for example. Subject to a few restrictions -- I

(3834) Zappafrank.

: believe you can't name them after living people, in particular -- and

Oh dear, I must be dead then: (3202) Graff. That'll be a shock to my
wife! :-)

Minor planets can be named for living people, according to the
rules of the CSBN. Features on planets and natural satellites
cannot, according to the rules of the WGPSN.

: confirmation by the IAU, an asteroid's name is chosen by its discoverer.

See http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/info/HowNamed.html for more
details.

Gareth

--
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Gareth V. Williams, MS 18, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
Associate Director, IAU Minor Planet Center
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/mpc.html
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