The asteroid was named by the director of the Naples observatory, Ernesto Capocci. He called it "Igea Borbonica" ("Bourbon Hygieia") in honor of the ruling family of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies where Naples was located. However, by 1852, John Russell Hind wrote that "it is universally termed "Hygeia", the unnecessary appendage 'Borbonica' being dropped."