Urey created the names protium, deuterium, and tritium in an article published in 1934. The name is based in part on advice from Gilbert N. Lewis who had proposed the name "deutium". The name comes from Greek deuteros second, and the nucleus was to be called a "deuteron" or "deuton". Isotopes and new elements were traditionally given the name that their discoverer decided. Some British scientists, such as Ernest Rutherford, wanted to call the isotope "diplogen", from Greek diploos double, and the nucleus to be called "diplon".
The amount inferred for normal abundance of deuterium was so small (only about 1 atom in 6400 hydrogen atoms in seawater [156 parts per million]) that it had not noticeably affected previous measurements of (average) hydrogen atomic mass. This explained why it hadnt been suspected before. Urey was able to concentrate water to show partial enrichment of deuterium. Lewis, Ureys graduate advisor at Berkeley, had prepared and characterized the first samples of pure heavy water in 1933. The discovery of deuterium, coming before the discovery of the neutron in 1932, was an experimental shock to theory; but when the neutron was reported, making deuteriums existence more explicable, Urey was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry only three years after the isotopes isolation. Lewis was deeply disappointed by the Nobel Committee's decision in 1934 and several high-ranking administrators at Berkeley believed this disappointment played a central role in his suicide a decade later.