Mineral/rock

Derived from or for

Baddeleyite

Joseph Baddeley who brought the original specimens from Sri Lanka

Ball clay

from the tradition of rolling the clay to the cart and thus forming a "ball" weighing 13-22 kg (30-50 lb) with a diameter of about 25 cm (10 inches)

Barite

Greek barys = heavy or dense

Barylite

Greek barys = heavy or dense, lithos = stone

Bassanite 

locality at Basset group of mines, Redruth, Cornwall, England

Bastnaesite

locality at Bastnäs, Vastmanland, Sweden

Bauxite

locality at Les Baux, near Arles, France where it was discovered by P. Berthierin 

Beidellite 

locality at Beidell, Colorado

Bementite

Clarence Sweet Bement (1843-1923), American machine tool manufacturer from Philadelphia; collector of coins, books, and minerals

Benstonite 

for O.J. Benston (1901- ), American ore dressing metallurgist, National Lead Company, Malvern, AR, who provided specimens for initial study

Bentonite

for the Benton Shale named for Fort Benton, Montana, United States (originally named Taylorite for Taylor Ranch, the site of the first mine near Rock River, Wyoming, which opened in 1888)

Bertrandite

Marcel Alexandre Bertrand (1847-1907), French mineralogist

Beryl

Greek beryllos of uncertain etymology applied to beryl and green gems

Beryllium

beryl (see above), the mineral from which it was isolated

Bikitaite

locality at Bikita, Zimbabwe

Biotite

Jean Baptiste Biot (1774-1862), French physicist who studied its optical aspects 

Birnessite

locality at Birness, Scotland

Bischofite

Gustav Bischof (1792-1870), German chemist and geologist

Bixbyite

Maynard Bixby of Salt Lake City, UT, who compiled a catalog of Utah minerals

Blanc fixe

French blanc = white and fixe = settled referring to the barium sulfate precipitate 

Bloedite

Carl August Bloede (1773-1820), German chemist

Boehmite

Johannes Böhm (1857-1938), German geologist and first observer

Boracite

derived from borax (see below). A.k.a. 

Borax

Persian burah and Arabic buraq, both old names for the mineral. A.k.a. tincal.

Bradleyite

Wilmot Hyde Bradley (b. 1899), American geologist, USGS

Brannerite

John Casper Branner (1850-1922), American geologist

Braunite

Kammerath Braun, of Gotha, Germany

Brazilianite

Brazil, where the mineral was first found

Bromine

Greek bromos = stench in reference to its characteristic odor

Bromargyrite

Greek bromos = stench and argyros = silver alluding to to composition

Brookite

Henry James Brooke (1771-1857), English mineralogist

Brucite

Archibald Bruce (1777-1818), American mineralogist and first observer

Brüggenite

Juan Brüggen (1887-1953), Chilean geologist

Burkeite

William Edmund Burke (1980-), American chemical engineer