Meanings of minor-planet names: 68001–69000
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).[1] Before May 2021, citations were published in MPC's Minor Planet Circulars for many decades.[2] Recent citations can also be found on the JPL Small-Body Database (SBDB).[3] 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.[4][5]
Based on Paul Herget's The Names of the Minor Planets,[6] 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.[7] The WGSBN publishes a comprehensive guideline for the naming rules of non-cometary small Solar System bodies.[8]
Minor planets not yet given a name have not been included in this list.
| Name | Provisional Designation | Source of Name |
|---|---|---|
| 68001–68100 | ||
| 68021 Taiki | 2000 YU17 | Taiki Town, located in the eastern part of Hokkaido, is a beautiful town blessed with clear streams and a large park filled with wild flowers on its shore.JPL |
| 68101–68200 | ||
| 68109 Naomipasachoff | 2000 YH135 | Naomi Pasachoff, American scientific biographer and amateur astronomer JPL |
| 68114 Deákferenc | 2001 AC | Ferenc Deák (1803–1876), a Hungarian statesman, Minister of Justice and honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. JPL |
| 68144 Mizser | 2001 AW38 | Attila Mizser, one of the leaders of Hungarian amateur astronomy, editor-in-chief of Meteor JPL |
| 68201–68300 | ||
| 68218 Nealgalt | 2001 CO31 | Neal Galt, American amateur astronomer and newspaper columnist † |
| 68301–68400 | ||
| 68325 Begues | 2001 HO16 | Observatorio de Begues (a.k.a. "Observatori Astronòmic de Begues" in Catalan), an amateur observatory operated by Pepe Manteca in Barcelona (Catalonia), Spain † |
| 68401–68500 | ||
| 68410 Nichols | 2001 QB154 | Nichelle Nichols, American author and actress, best known for her role as Lt. Nyota Uhura in the Star Trek series † Template:MPCit MPES |
| 68448 Sidneywolff | 2001 SW4 | Sidney C. Wolff, American director of Kitt Peak National Observatory (1984–1987) and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (1987–2001), president of the American Astronomical Society (1992–1994) and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (1985–1986), and a founding editor of the Astronomy Education Review Template:MPCit MPES |
| 68701–68800 | ||
| 68718 Safi | 2002 DQ | Safi, Morocco, birthplace of the discoverer's wife JPL |
| 68719 Jangyeongsil | 2002 DW | Jang Yeongsil, fifteenth century Korean scientist (after whom the JangYeongSil Award, an annual Korean new technology product award, is also named) JPL |
| 68730 Straizys | 2002 EA13 | Vytautas Straižys, Lithuanian astronomer JPL |
| 68779 Schöninger | 2002 FA3 | Schöninger (a.k.a. Šenýgl), 17th-19th-century German name of Kleť mountain, meaning "a place with a beautiful view" Template:MPCit MPES |
| 68801–68900 | ||
| 68853 Vaimaca | 2002 HA9 | Vaimaca, one of the four "last charrás", native Uruguayans sold by the state to be exhibited in France in 1833; he had been a chief and served as a soldier in the army of the Uruguayan national hero José Artigas Template:MPCit MPES |
| 68901–69000 | ||
| 68947 Brunofunk | 2002 PW156 | Bruno Funk, German amateur astronomer and founder and president of the Sternfreunde Donzdorf, an organisation of amateur astronomers in Donzdorf, and founder of the amateur observatory there, the Messelberg-Sternwarte (Messelberg Observatory) † ‡ + |
| 68948 Mikeoates | 2002 PX157 | Michael Oates, British amateur astronomer, SOHO comet hunter †‡ |
- ^ "WGSBN Bulletin Archive". Working Group Small Body Nomenclature. 14 May 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
- ^ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
- ^ "JPL – Solar System Dynamics: Discovery Circumstances". Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
- ^ Schmadel, Lutz D. (2003). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
- ^ Schmadel, Lutz D. (2006). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – Addendum to Fifth Edition: 2003–2005. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. ISBN 978-3-540-34360-8. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
- ^ Herget, Paul (1968). The Names of the Minor Planets. Cincinnati, Ohio: Minor Planet Center, Cincinnati Observatory. OCLC 224288991.
- ^ "Guide to Minor Body Astrometry – When can I name my discovery?". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
- ^ "Minor Planet Naming Guidelines (Rules and Guidelines for naming non-cometary small Solar-System bodies) – v1.0" (PDF). Working Group Small Body Nomenclature (PDF). 20 December 2021.