An historical review of the nomenclature of the natural Os-Ir alloys suggests that the most suitable names are: For the cubic alloys, osmiridium (Steffens, 1824), i.e. osmian iridium; and for the hexagonal alloys, iridosmine (Breithaupt, 1827), i.e. iridian osmium, for alloys with 20% or more Ir, and native osmium for the very rare alloys with little or no Ir. Iridosmine may, if desired, be divided into two varieties, nevyanskite and sysertskite, following Rose and Haidinger.