Formation of compound generic names based on personal names: a proposal for emendation of Appendix 9 of the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes

Appendix 9, the orthography appendix of the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes, provides guidelines for the correct formation of generic names and specific epithets to honour famous microbiologists and other persons connected with natural science. However, no guidelines are given for the correct formation of compound generic names in which the first word element is derived from a personal name. Currently there are 16 such names validly published under the Rules of the Code, but the ways they were formed are inconsistent. We therefore propose an emendation of Appendix 9 to provide uniform guidelines for the formation of such names in the future.