I once asked a brilliant physicist at Manchester University what he thought of the name the media use for the Higgs boson, the mysterious particle that is regarded as the universal origin of mass. That name, of course, is the God particle.

It is partly with thanks to names like “God particle” and spurious end-of-the-world scenarios that the Large Hadron Collider at Cern near Geneva got so much coverage when it was switched on last year. And broke…

But back to the physicist in Manchester. He paused. He sighed. And then he said: “I really, really don’t like it. It sends out all the wrong messages. It overstates the case. It makes us look arrogant. It’s rubbish.” He then added: “If you walked down the corridor here, poked your head into people’s offices and asked that question, you would likely be struck by flying books…”

Below I’ve set out the best criteria I can find for how to come up with a good name for a new particle. Depending on the number of entries, we’ll select the winner by: consulting physicists; testing the entries on the humanities graduates who run the Guardian’s newsdesk, aka “The Gate Keepers”; or by printing them out on a sheet of paper and asking the chef to throw a dart at it*.

The winner will receive a copy of Science: A Four Thousand Year History by Patricia Fara, and a surprise Higgs boson-themed gift.

Three simple rules:

1) Names should be serious and accurate
2) It is good to name things after people, but only if you can resist the pressure to hyphenate with two or three extra names
3) Names should be evocative and inspiring.

The closing date is midnight Monday 1st June 2009

Post your suggested name in the Comments at the original article.