By 1851, the Royal Astronomical Society decided that the rapid discovery of

asteroids required another system for classifying or naming them. When de Gasparis
discovered his twentieth asteroid in 1852, Benjamin Valz gave it a name and number,
20 Massalia, indicating its rank among asteroid discoveries. From time to time,
asteroids were discovered and never seen again. Thus, starting in 1892, new
asteroids were listed by year, the orbits of the asteroids were calculated, and
capitalized to indicate the order in which they were registered in that particular
year. For example, his first two asteroids, discovered in 1892, were designated
1892A and 1892B. However, there were not enough letters in the alphabet of all
asteroids discovered in 1893, so 1893Z was followed by 1893AA. Many variations of
these methods were tried, including designations containing Greek letters in
addition to 1914. In 1925 a simple chronological numbering system was introduced.

All newly discovered asteroids are now given a provisional name (e.g. 2002 AT4)
consisting of the year of discovery and an alphanumeric code indicating the half-
month of discovery and the order within that half-month. Once the asteroid's orbit
is confirmed, it will be numbered and possibly named later (e.g. 433 Eros). The
formal naming convention is to enclose numbers in parentheses. (433) Eros - But
omission of parentheses is very common. When names are repeated in text, it is also
informal to omit the number in its entirety or after the first mention.[20] In
addition, names may be suggested by discoverers of asteroids, within guidelines set
by the International Astronomical Union. may be