| Symbol | Name | meaning | origin | discovered by |
| H | Hydrogen | hydro means “water” ; gen means “former” | Greek | |
| He | Helium | helios means “sun” | Greek | |
| Li | Lithium | lithos means “stone” | Greek | |
| Be | Beryllium | beryllos refers to beryl (“blue-green stone”) a mineral in which the element is found. | Greek | |
| B | Boron | burah refers to the mineral borax | Arabic | |
| C | Carbon | carbo means “charcoal” | Latin | |
| N | Nitrogen | nitron means “native soda”; gen means “former” | Greek | |
| O | Oxygen | oxy means “acid” ; gen means “former” | Greek | |
| F | Fluorine | fluere means “to flow” because the mineral fluorite was used as a flux in metallurgy due to its low melting point. | Latin | |
| Ne | Neon | neos means “new” referring to the fact that noble gases were found a while after most of the table was formed | Greek | |
| Na | Sodium | | | |
| Mg | Magnesium | | | |
| Al | Aluminum | | | |
| Si | Silicon | | | |
| P | Phosphorus | | | |
| S | Sulfur | | | |
| Cl | Chlorine | | | |
| Ar | Argon | | | |
| K | Potassium | | | |
| Ca | Calcium | | | |
| Sc | Scandium | | | |
| Ti | Titanium | | | |
| V | Vanadium | | | |
| Cr | Chromium | | | |
| Mn | Manganese | | | |
| Fe | Iron | | | |
| Co | Cobalt | | | |
| Ni | Nickel | | | |
| Cu | Copper | | | |
| Zn | Zinc | | | |
| Ga | Gallium | | | |
| Ge | Germanium | | | |
| As | Arsenic | | | |
| Se | Selenium | | | |
| Br | Bromine | | | |
| Kr | Krypton | | | |
| Rb | Rubidium | | | |
| Sr | Strontium | | | |
| Y | Yttrium | | | |
| Zr | Zirconium | | | |
| Nb | Niobium | | | |
| Mo | Molybdenum | | | |
| Tc | Technetium | | | |
| Ru | Ruthenium | | | |
| Rh | Rhodium | | | |
| Pd | Palladium | | | |
| Ag | Silver | | | |
| Cd | Cadmium | | | |
| In | Indium | | | |
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