Mineral/rock

Derived from or for

Cahnite

Lazard Cahn (1865-1940), American mineral collector who first recognized the mineral in Franklin, New Jersey.

Cairngorm

locality at Cairngorm, southwest of Banff, Scotland

Calcite

Latin calx, calcis = lime; this is the same origin for chalk and limestone

Carnallite

Rudolph von Carnall (1804-1874), Prussian mining engineer, Greek lithos = stone

Celestite

Latin caelestis = heavenly for its faint blue color

Cement

Old French ciment from Latin caementum = chip of stone used to fill up in building a wall

Cerite/Cerium

after Ceris, an asteroid discovered in 1803

Chabazite (zeolite)

Greek chabazios or chalazios, an ancient name of a stone celebrated in a poem ascribed to Orpheus

Chalcedony

from Chalcedon or Calchedon, an ancient maritime city of Bithynia on the Sea of Marmara in modern Turkey

Chalcophanite

Greek chalcos = copper and to appear refering to the change of color on ignition

Chalcopyrite

Greek chalcos = copper and its similarity with pyrite.

Chaistolite 
(variety of andalusite)

Greek chiastos = marked with a chi (x) and lithos = stone alluding to the cross exhibited in transverse sections

China clay

commercial term for kaolin which was named for Kau-ling in China

Chiolite

Greek = snow alluding to its appearance and similarity to cryolite (ice)

Chlorite

Greek chloros = light green in reference to its color

Chromite

Greek chroma = a color for the brilliant hues of its compounds

Chrysoberyl

Greek chrysos = golden or yellow plus beryllos = beryl 

Chrysolite

Greek chrysos = golden or yellow plus lithos = stone

Chrysoprase

Greek chrysos = golden or yellow plus prason = leek alluding to green color

Chrysotile

Greek chrysotos = guilded in reference to its color and nature

Citrine

Latin citrus or French citron = lemon in reference to its yellow color

Clinoenstatite

Greek klinein = to bend or slope (monoclinic diomorph) of enstates = an adversary because of its refractory nature 

Clinoptilolite

Greek klinein = to bend or slope, monoclinic Greek for wing or down alluding to its light nature, and lithos = stone 

Colemanite

William Tell Coleman (1824-1893), a borate developer in California 

Cordierite

Pierre Louis A. Cordier (1777-1861), French mining engineer & geologist

Coronadite

for Francisco Vasquez de Coronado (ca. 1500-1554), Spanish explorer of SW America

Corundum

Hindi kurund, or the Tamil kurundam, describing a native stone of India

Crandallite

Milan L. Crandell Jr., American engineer, Knight Syndicate, Provo, Utah and Greek lithos = stone

Cristobalite

Cerro San Cristóbal near Pachuca, Mexico and Greek lithos = stone

Crocidolite

Greek krokis or krokidos = the nap on cloth and lithos = stone 

Cryolite

Greek kryos = cold, frost and lithos = stone for its icy appearance

Cryptomelane

Greek kryptos = hidden, secret and melas = black in reference to the difficulty of identifying it as a species and its color