animeengineer: Keiko’s family follows a tradition when naming...

animeengineer:

Keiko’s family follows a tradition when naming their children. Since Keiko’s grandfather was a chemist, he named his son Tetsuhiko after iron (鉄, Tetsu) since Tetsuhiko was born on the 6th of February and the 26th element (2nd month and 6th day) in the periodic table is iron. Tetsuhiko continued this tradition and named his daughter Keiko after the 14th element, silicon (珪素, Keiso), as Keiko was born on the 4th of October but Tetsuhiko couldn’t make a girl’s name after the 104th element, Rutherfordium, so he resorted to merging 10 and 4 to get 14.

Keiko’s display name, Silica, means Silicon Dioxide (SiO₂). She chose this name for her character due to her real name being based on silicon, the 14th element in the periodic table. The reason why she chose “Silica” instead of “Silico” was because “Silica” sounded cuter. She even ties her hair with two red ribbons to have 2 ring baubles which symbolize 2 oxygen atoms bound to her.

(source) (emphasis mine)

This is just incredibly adorable. Science nerd families FTW!