Female Names on the Moon

Latest updates: March 24, 2024.

As of March 24^th, 2024, the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature by the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN) includes 9175 names of lunar surface features (including a small amount of names that were once official but are no longer in use). Some of the names – especially those of the seas (maria), lakes (lacūs), bays (sinūs) and marshes (paludes) – are for the most part not named after people. However, the vast majority of lunar names, especially those of craters, come from deceased astronomers, lunar scientists or explorers. Some small features of impact, volcanic and tectonic origins are named after human first names without referencing any single person, all classified as craters.

The vast majority of the names on lunar maps are those of males. To the best of my current knowledge, there are only 188 IAU-approved names that have female origins. Some of them are also shared between males and females.

The starting point of this compilation was the work by A. Tripathi (and possibly also M. Lin – it's a bit hard to say for sure). In 2020 they compiled a list of 32 lunar craters named after women (e.g., Blagg). However, there are several other features on the Moon carrying female names, like small (often volcanic) craters (e.g., Vera; a list of minor features in The Moon-Wiki was also a highly useful resource), rilles (rimae; e.g., Rima Reiko) and some astronaut-named features near or related to the Apollo landing sites (e.g., Mount Marilyn). A few female names have also been added to the lunar nomenclature since 2020 (e.g., Easley).

The most abundant source of female names is the list of satellite features, sometimes also known as lettered craters (e.g., Hypatia M). They are typically smaller or older craters (not all necessarily of impact origin) situated around a more prominent one. Thus, they add many names to the lunar surface, but do not increase the number of people who have received the honour of getting something on the Moon named after them. 

There are currently 43 different real, historical women who have a lunar surface feature officially named after them. Saint Catherine of Alexandria has fifteen features named after her, while Hypatia is the only one who has provided the name for three different types of features (a crater, ten satellite features and a set of rilles).

The following strictly alphabetical table includes all lunar female names that I am currently aware of. The names, coordinates and types are as listed in the Gazetteer, as are the diameters except for Mons Agnes. Some of the Gazetteer’s explanations to the names have been slightly edited, and the Apollo 17 landing site names (Brontë and Lara) are taken from the Apollo 17 Lunar Surface Journal (with minor editing).

The names have been classified as follows (the numbers of occurrences in parentheses): 

F = female, last name (38; 39 if Rimae Hypatia is included) 

FM = female and male, last name (5) 

Ff = female, first name (50) 

FMf = female and male, first name (2)

Fmyth = female, mythological or fictional character (2)

FMmyth = female and male, mythological or fictional character (1)

Fs = female, last name, satellite feature (70) 

FMs = female and male, last name, satellite feature (19)

 

Separately at the bottom of the table there are two craters with names that are commonly used as both male and female first names, although IAU lists them only as male names. In addition, I have listed five unofficial Apollo-era names with female origins that are still in common use (e.g., in LRO QuickMap). The IAU types of those craters that are not, with a fair amount of certainty, of impact origin, are shown in italics.

Name	D (km)	Lat.	Long.	IAU type	Person or name	Class
Akis	2.28	20.01	-31.76	crater	Greek female name.	Ff
Aloha	2.55	29.79	-53.88	crater	Hawaiian female first name.	Ff
Ann	2.12	25.11	-0.05	crater	Hebrew female name.	Ff
Annegrit	1.29	29.43	-25.64	crater	German female name.	Ff
Artemis	2.28	25.03	-25.36	crater	Greek female first name.	Ff
Béla	10.07	24.67	2.27	crater	Hungarian male name, also Slovak female name.	FMf
Blagg	4.97	1.22	1.46	crater	Mary Adela Blagg; British astronomer who compiled and systemised lunar nomenclature (1858–1944).	F
Bok	43.03	-20.26	-171.6	crater	Priscilla Fairfield Bok (1896–1975); American astronomer; Bart Jan Bok; Dutch–American astronomer (1906–1983).	FM
Bok C	23.54	-19.07	-170.3	satellite		FMs
Brill	17.00	-88.27	-93.41	crater	Yvonne Brill; Canadian–American rocket scientist (1924–2013).	F
Brontë	0.21	20.17	30.67	landing site name	Charlotte Brontë; British novelist and poet, representative not only of the literary innovations of her times, but also of the first golden age of women in literature (1816–1855).	F
Bruce	6.14	1.16	0.37	crater	Catherine Wolfe Bruce; American philanthropist, astronomy patron (1816–1900).	F
Burbidge	21.00	-86.35	48.6	crater	E. Margaret Burbidge; British–American observational astronomer and astrophysicist (1919–2020); Feature name also honors Geoffrey Burbidge (1925–2010), second author (after E. Margaret) of the landmark scientific paper "Synthesis of the Elements in Stars."	FM
C. Herschel	13.70	34.48	-31.29	crater	Caroline Lucretia Herschel; German–British astronomer (1750–1848).	F
C. Herschel C	7.04	37.23	-32.62	satellite		Fs
C. Herschel E	5.03	34.21	-34.69	satellite		Fs
C. Herschel U	3.30	36.2	-31.44	satellite		Fs
C. Herschel V	3.46	36.46	-33.49	satellite		Fs
Cannon	57.58	19.88	81.36	crater	Annie Jump Cannon; American astronomer (1863–1941).	F
Cannon B	38.78	17.54	80.05	satellite		Fs
Cannon E	25.87	19.27	78.99	satellite		Fs
Carol	6.25	8.48	122.37	crater	Latin female name.	Ff
Catena Brigitte	7.65	18.50	27.49	catena	French female name.	Ff
Catharina	98.77	-17.98	23.55	crater	St. Catherine of Alexandria; Greek theologian, philosopher (unkn.–c. 307).	F
Catharina A	12.97	-20.21	22.27	satellite		Fs
Catharina B	21.70	-16.96	24.29	satellite		Fs
Catharina C	27.28	-20.38	24.31	satellite		Fs
Catharina D	8.36	-16.94	21.4	satellite		Fs
Catharina E	6.05	-17.16	21.26	satellite		Fs
Catharina F	6.31	-19.54	23.06	satellite		Fs
Catharina G	15.94	-17.54	24.91	satellite		Fs
Catharina H	5.45	-19.31	25.37	satellite		Fs
Catharina J	4.89	-19.45	22.18	satellite		Fs
Catharina K	7.19	-20.06	23.89	satellite		Fs
Catharina L	3.87	-20.96	24.21	satellite		Fs
Catharina M	5.40	-19.27	20.73	satellite		Fs
Catharina P	46.80	-17.28	23.32	satellite		Fs
Catharina S	15.77	-18.92	23.37	satellite		Fs
Chang-Ngo	2.34	-12.69	-2.16	crater	Chinese female name.	Ff
Chawla	14.25	-42.48	-147.5	crater	Kalpana Chawla;  American astronaut, Space Shuttle Columbia Mission Specialist (1961–2003).	F
Clerke	6.66	21.68	29.8	crater	Agnes Mary Clerke; British astronomer (1842–1907).	F
Cori	67.22	-50.48	-152.9	crater	Gerty Theresa Radnitz Cori; Czech–American physiologist; Nobel laureate (1896–1957).	F
Cori G	20.54	-50.98	-147.9	satellite		Fs
Delia	1.57	-10.91	-6.13	crater	Greek female name.	Ff
Diana	1.55	14.29	35.65	crater	Latin female name.	Ff
Donna	1.84	7.22	38.3	crater	Italian female name.	Ff
Dorsum Thera	7.25	24.40	-31.42	dorsum	Greek female name.	Ff
Easley	9.00	-23.69	87.97	crater	Annie Jean Easley; American computer scientist, mathematician, and rocket scientist (1933–2011).	F
Edith	6.92	-25.77	102.33	crater	English female name.	Ff
Fairouz	2.87	-26.07	102.95	crater	Arab female name.	Ff
Fleming	126.37	14.91	109.28	crater	Alexander Fleming; British doctor, Nobel laureate (1881–1955); Williamina Paton Fleming; Scottish-born American astronomer (1857–1911).	FM
Fleming D	24.71	16.79	114.05	satellite		FMs
Fleming N	23.13	12.71	108.88	satellite		FMs
Fleming W	51.88	17.79	106.17	satellite		FMs
Fleming Y	28.81	18.03	108.23	satellite		FMs
Floss	9.00	-84.28	42.27	crater	Christine Floss; American cosmochemist (1961–2018).	F
Grace	1.49	14.21	35.89	crater	English female name.	Ff
Hildegard	122.00	-51.68	127.74	crater	Hildegard von Bingen; German writer, composer, mystic and visionary. In Germany she is considered the founder of the scientific study of natural history (1098–1179).	F
Hildegard K	33.00	-51.03	125.49	satellite		Fs
Hypatia	38.82	-4.25	22.58	crater	Hypatia of Alexandria; Greek mathematician and philosopher (c. 370–415).	F
Hypatia A	15.06	-4.9	22.22	satellite		Fs
Hypatia B	4.13	-4.69	21.32	satellite		Fs
Hypatia C	14.79	-0.88	20.76	satellite		Fs
Hypatia D	5.36	-3.15	22.68	satellite		Fs
Hypatia E	5.70	-0.35	20.42	satellite		Fs
Hypatia F	8.24	-4.14	21.47	satellite		Fs
Hypatia G	4.81	-2.68	22.96	satellite		Fs
Hypatia H	5.19	-4.48	24.06	satellite		Fs
Hypatia M	28.53	-5.28	23.41	satellite		Fs
Hypatia R	3.10	-2.01	21.25	satellite		Fs
Ina	2.98	18.66	5.3	crater	Latin female name.	Ff
Isabel	1.22	28.18	-34.07	crater	Spanish female name.	Ff
Isis	0.61	18.95	27.48	crater	Egyptian female first name, Egyptian goddess of magic and wisdom.	Ff
Jaci	1.80	-85.42	31.23	crater	Female and male Old Tupi first name, Tupi goddess of the Moon.	FMf
Jehan	4.46	20.71	-31.86	crater	Turkish female name.	Ff
Jenkins	37.77	0.37	78.04	crater	Louise Freeland Jenkins; American astronomer (1888–1970).	F
Julienne	1.80	26.06	3.13	crater	French female name.	Ff
Karima	3.05	-25.93	102.98	crater	Arabic female name.	Ff
Kathleen	5.37	25.34	-0.83	crater	Irish female name.	Ff
Kira	6.81	-17.71	132.83	crater	Russian female name.	Ff
Kovalevskaya	113.71	30.86	-129.4	crater	Sofia Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya; Russian mathematician (1850–1891).	F
Kovalevskaya D	22.67	32.38	-124.7	satellite		Fs
Kovalevskaya Q	100.63	29.18	-131.4	satellite		Fs
L. Clark	15.30	-43.34	-147.7	crater	Laurel Blair Salton Clark; American astronaut, Space Shuttle Columbia Mission Specialist (1961–2003).	F
Lara	0.62	20.17	30.55	landing site name	Character Lara (Larissa) in Boris Pasternak's novel Doctor Zhivago (1957); honoring all the inspiring women of history, known and unknown.	Fmyth
Leavitt	69.31	-44.86	-139.9	crater	Henrietta Swan Leavitt; American astronomer (1868–1921).	F
Leavitt Z	63.59	-42.57	-139.6	satellite		Fs
Lepaute	16.36	-33.3	-33.69	crater	Nicole Reine De La Briere Lepaute; French astronomer (1723–1788).	F
Lepaute D	20.41	-34.36	-36.3	satellite		Fs
Lepaute E	10.48	-35.75	-35.06	satellite		Fs
Lepaute F	6.23	-37.34	-34.88	satellite		Fs
Lepaute K	10.54	-34.39	-34.01	satellite		Fs
Lepaute L	9.05	-34.44	-35.32	satellite		Fs
Linda	1.11	30.69	-33.38	crater	Spanish female name.	Ff
Louise	0.64	28.49	-34.2	crater	French female name.	Ff
Marvin	4.60	-89.13	-87.78	crater	Ursula Marvin; American planetary geologist (1921–2018).	F
Mary	0.53	18.93	27.39	crater	English form of Hebrew female name.	Ff
Masina	1.40	-85.42	32.15	crater	Samoan female first name, also the Moon in Samoan.	Ff
Maunder	53.80	-14.52	-93.88	crater	Annie Scott Dill Russell Maunder; British astronomer (1868–1947); Edward Walter Maunder; British astronomer (1851–1928).	FM
Maunder A	15.48	-3.28	-90.62	satellite		FMs
Maunder B	15.87	-9.03	-90.46	satellite		FMs
Maury	16.58	37.11	39.69	crater	Matthew Fontaine Maury; American oceanographer (1806–1873); Antonia Caetana de Paiva Pereira Maury; American astronomer (1866–1952).	FM
Maury A	21.37	35.99	41.9	satellite		FMs
Maury B	8.62	35.11	42.05	satellite		FMs
Maury C	28.82	36.98	38.68	satellite		FMs
Maury D	7.61	38.27	37.78	satellite		FMs
Maury J	5.97	39.04	40.09	satellite		FMs
Maury K	5.20	39.47	41.07	satellite		FMs
Maury L	4.23	40.29	42.5	satellite		FMs
Maury M	9.25	40.86	42.55	satellite		FMs
Maury N	17.60	40.36	41.77	satellite		FMs
Maury P	11.91	40.01	37.98	satellite		FMs
Maury T	2.74	39.97	43.29	satellite		FMs
Maury U	4.69	39.31	37.07	satellite		FMs
Mavis	1.09	29.76	-26.36	crater	Scottish female name.	Ff
McAuliffe	19.11	-33.24	-149.8	crater	Sharon Christa Corrigan McAuliffe; civilian school teacher member of the Challenger crew (1948–1986).	F
Meitner	87.27	-10.87	113.1	crater	Lise Meitner; Austrian physicist (1878–1968).	F
Meitner A	16.40	-8.39	113.8	satellite		Fs
Meitner C	20.25	-9.92	114.09	satellite		Fs
Meitner H	13.64	-12.02	116.09	satellite		Fs
Meitner J	13.93	-12.26	115.57	satellite		Fs
Meitner R	14.99	-12.2	109.82	satellite		Fs
Melissa	17.21	8.12	121.78	crater	Greek female name.	Ff
Mirzakhani	5.00	-17.47	85.2	crater	Maryam Mirzakhani; Iranian-American mathematician, first female winner of the Fields Medal (1977-2017).	F
Mitchell	32.15	49.77	20.17	crater	Maria Mitchell; American astronomer (1818–1889).	F
Mitchell B	5.40	48.53	19.44	satellite		Fs
Mitchell E	7.72	47.7	21.73	satellite		Fs
Monira	1.07	-12.54	-1.73	crater	Arabic female name.	Ff
Mons Agnes	0.06	18.66	5.33	mons	Greek female name.	Ff
Mons Mouton	130.00	-84.60	31.00	mons	Melba Roy Mouton; American mathematician (1929–1990).	F
Mount Marilyn	30.00	1.13	40.00	landing site name	Marilyn Lovell; wife of American astronaut Jim Lovell (1930–2023).	F
Natasha	10.98	19.98	-31.16	crater	Russian female name.	Ff
Nöther (Noether)	64.80	66.35	-114.2	crater	Amalie Emmy Noether; German mathematician (1882–1935).	F
Nöther (Noether) A	30.24	68.92	-112.9	satellite		Fs
Nöther (Noether) E	45.43	66.81	-105.5	satellite		Fs
Nöther (Noether) T	44.90	65.95	-121.9	satellite		Fs
Nöther (Noether) U	37.89	67.22	-123.7	satellite		Fs
Nöther (Noether) V	26.79	68.57	-123.2	satellite		Fs
Nöther (Noether) X	31.23	68.68	-117.5	satellite		Fs
Patricia	10.08	24.91	0.5	crater	English female name.	Ff
Pierazzo	9.29	3.3	-100.2	crater	Elisabetta Pierazzo; Italian planetary scientist (1963–2011).	F
Priscilla	1.50	-10.96	-6.21	crater	Latin female name.	Ff
Proctor	47.64	-46.43	-5.04	crater	Mary A. Proctor; American astronomer (1862–1957).	F
Proctor A	7.35	-47.05	-6.79	satellite		Fs
Proctor B	7.01	-46.54	-6.73	satellite		Fs
Proctor C	5.28	-47.61	-6.65	satellite		Fs
Proctor D	11.67	-46.1	-6.06	satellite		Fs
Proctor E	7.73	-45.42	-5.16	satellite		Fs
Proctor F	5.91	-47.83	-5.34	satellite		Fs
Proctor G	7.14	-47.77	-4.9	satellite		Fs
Proctor H	5.69	-45.75	-2.64	satellite		Fs
Resnik	22.16	-34.15	-150.8	crater	Judith Arlene Resnik; member of the Challenger crew (1949–1986).	F
Rima Carmen	15.02	19.95	29.30	rima	Spanish female name.	Ff
Rima Cleopatra	14.66	30.03	-53.80	rima	Greek female name.	Ff
Rima Reiko	4.29	18.55	27.71	rima	Japanese female name.	Ff
Rima Sung-Mei	3.88	24.59	11.28	rima	Chinese female name.	Ff
Rima Wan-Yu	13.72	19.98	-31.43	rima	Chinese female name.	Ff
Rima Zahia	15.24	25.02	-30.46	rima	Arabic female name.	Ff
Rimae Hypatia	200.00	-0.34	22.78	rima	Hypatia of Alexandria; Greek mathematician and philosopher (c. 370–415).	F
Rosa	0.82	20.31	-32.3	crater	Spanish female name.	Ff
Rubin	4.00	-82.82	77.65	crater	Vera Rubin; American astronomer (1928-2016).	F
Ruth	3.08	28.71	-45.06	crater	Hebrew female name.	Ff
Shahinaz	15.99	7.58	122.42	crater	Turkish female name.	Ff
Sheepshanks	23.67	59.24	17.04	crater	Anne Sheepshanks; British benefactor (1789–1876).	F
Sheepshanks A	6.65	60	18.96	satellite		Fs
Sheepshanks B	4.77	60.32	21.09	satellite		Fs
Sheepshanks C	10.39	57.03	18.09	satellite		Fs
Shioli	0.27	-13.33	25.23	crater	Japanese female first name.	Ff
Sita	1.59	4.61	120.7	crater	Indian female name.	Ff
Sklodowska	125.55	-18.04	96.15	crater	Marie Sklodowska-Curie; (Madame Curie); Polish physicist, chemist, Nobel laureate (1867–1934).	F
Sklodowska A	45.49	-14.77	96.81	satellite		Fs
Sklodowska D	17.45	-13.85	99.4	satellite		Fs
Sklodowska J	14.72	-19.45	97.96	satellite		Fs
Sklodowska R	17.84	-19	92.55	satellite		Fs
Sklodowska Y	16.97	-13.34	95.73	satellite		Fs
Somerville	17.08	-8.33	64.96	crater	Mary Fairfax Greig Somerville; Scottish physicist, mathematician (1780–1872).	F
Soraya	1.90	-12.87	-1.63	crater	Persian female name.	Ff
Statio Shiv Shakti	0.00	-69.37	32.32	landing site name	Compound word from Indian mythology that depicts the masculine (“Shiva”) and feminine (“Shakti”) duality of nature; Landing site of Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander.	FMmyth
Stella	0.42	19.91	29.76	crater	Latin female name.	Ff
Stose	16.70	-86.38	32.13	crater	Anna Isabel Jonas Stose; American geologist (1881–1974).	F
Susan	0.95	-11	-6.3	crater	English female name.	Ff
Tereshkova	31.33	28.21	143.84	crater	Valentina Vladimirovna Nikolayeva Tereshkova; Soviet cosmonaut (1937–)	F
Tereshkova U	24.14	28.58	142.39	satellite		Fs
Tharp	13.45	-30.6	145.63	crater	Marie Tharp; Geologist and oceanographer, created first comprehensive map of the ocean floor and is credited with discovering the Mid–Atlantic Ridge (1920–2006).	F
Vallis Christel	2.10	24.54	11.08	vallis	German female name.	Ff
Vaughan	3.00	-41.41	-171.9	crater	Dorothy Vaughan; American mathematician (1910–2008).	F
Vera	2.27	26.33	-43.71	crater	Latin female name.	Ff
Zhinyu	3.80	-45.34	176.15	crater	Constellation name in the ancient Chinese star map, and the name of the fairy in the Chinese folk tale “The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.”	Fmyth
Officially males
Courtney	1.24	25.14	-30.81	crater	English male and female first name.	FMf
Dawa	0.65	-85.45	31.66	crater	Tibetan male and female first name, also the Moon in Tibetan.	FMf
Unofficial names
Barbara Mesa	35.93	1.7341	32.913		Barbara Jean Cernan; wife of Apollo astronaut Gene Cernan (1934–2017); or Barbara Young; wife of Apollo astronaut John Young (1930–2018).	Ff
Barjea	0.03078	20.185	30.777		Barbara Jean Cernan; wife of Apollo astronaut Gene Cernan (1934–2017).	Ff
Cape Venus	28.37	0.8672	37.213		Roman goddess of love and beauty.	Fmyth
Punk	0.06367	20.187	30.752		Teresa (Tracy) Dawn Cernan Woolie; daughter of Apollo astronaut Gene Cernan (1934–2017).	Ff
St. Teresa	3.85	1.416	36.3		Either Saint Teresa of Jesus (Saint Teresa of Ávila, 1515–1582) or Teresa (Tracy) Dawn Cernan Woolie; daughter of Apollo astronaut Gene Cernan (1934–2017)?	Ff

 

I am sure there are some omissions and mistakes in the table. My intention is to keep this up to date, so I would very much like to hear about such errors. Also, as this compilation took some effort, it would be nice that if this work is used somewhere, a proper acknowledgement would be given (it would also be cool to hear about such uses). And as explained above, the source of the actual data presented here is, for the most part, compiled and updated by the WGPSN, and taken from the Gazetteer. I also have the data in an Excel sheet that includes a bit more data on the geology of some of the features as well as the stratigraphic ages for many of them, so if someone would like to have that, just let me know, it's not too difficult to contact me.