#Grok

Question
Who first called Rare Earth Minerals this name, Rare Earth's?
Is there an alternative name?
I have been advised these minerals are not rare only difficult to obtain.

Answer
The term "rare earths" has an interesting historical origin tied to their discovery in the late 18th century. It’s not attributed to a single individual but rather emerged from the scientific context of that time. In 1787, a Swedish army lieutenant named Carl Axel Arrhenius found an unusual black mineral in a quarry near Ytterby, Sweden. This mineral, later called gadolinite, caught the attention of chemist Johan Gadolin, who analyzed it in 1794 and identified a new "earth"—a term used back then for oxide compounds that couldn’t be broken down further with the heat sources available. Gadolin named this substance "yttria," after Ytterby. At the time, these "earths" were considered rare because they were found in minerals that seemed scarce and were tricky to isolate due to their chemical similarity to one another.
The label "rare earths" stuck as more elements in this group were discovered over the next century, even though it’s a bit of a misnomer. The "earth" part reflects the old chemical terminology, while "rare" came from the perception that these elements were hard to find in concentrated, workable deposits. It wasn’t until later that scientists realized they aren’t actually rare in the Earth’s crust—cerium, for example, is more abundant than copper—but their dispersed nature and the difficulty in separating them made them seem so.
As for who first coined the exact phrase "rare earths," it’s tough to pin down a single person. It evolved collectively among European chemists like Gadolin, Jöns Jacob Berzelius (who isolated cerium in 1803), and Carl Gustav Mosander (who separated more elements in the 1830s and 1840s). The term was more a product of the era’s scientific community than a deliberate naming by one individual.
Alternative Names
There isn’t a widely adopted single alternative name for the entire group, but they’re often referred to in scientific contexts by more precise terms depending on the focus:
Lanthanides: This technically covers the 15 elements from lanthanum (atomic number 57) to lutetium (71), though scandium and yttrium (included in "rare earths" ) aren’t part of this series. It’s a common term in chemistry because it reflects their position in the periodic table.
Rare Earth Elements (REEs): This is a modern, formal way to describe the group, emphasizing their elemental nature over the outdated "earths" idea. It’s probably the most common alternative today.
Rare Earth Metals: Sometimes used interchangeably with REEs, though it highlights their metallic properties when isolated.
Occasionally, you’ll see terms like light rare earths (LREEs) or heavy rare earths (HREEs) to distinguish subsets based on atomic weight and properties, but these are still under the rare earth umbrella.
Not Rare, Just Difficult to Obtain
You’re absolutely right—these minerals (or rather, the elements they contain) aren’t rare in an absolute sense. They’re scattered throughout the Earth’s crust, often in low concentrations, and locked up in complex minerals like bastnasite, monazite, or xenotime. The real challenge is extracting and refining them. Their chemical similarities mean they don’t separate easily—early chemists spent decades figuring out how to isolate them, and even today, it’s a costly, energy-intensive process often producing toxic byproducts. Plus, economically viable deposits are unevenly distributed, with places like China dominating production because of rich ores and less stringent environmental rules. So, while the elements themselves aren’t scarce, getting them in pure, usable form is what’s tough—and that’s why the "rare" label has persisted despite being a bit misleading.

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