Named after Hafnia, the Latin name for Copenhagen, where it was discovered in 1923 by Coster and Hevesy. The Chinese character
铪 follows the convention used for nearly all metals — the
钅 (metal) radical plus a phonetic component that approximates the foreign name, here
合 (hé) → hā. Other metals named after places follow the same pattern:
镱 (yì, ytterbium, after Ytterby, Sweden) and
钋 (pō, polonium, after Poland).
