Venetia Burney Phair, 90, who as a child in England was credited with providing the name for Pluto, long regarded as the ninth planet, died April 30 at her home in Epsom, a town south of London.

In a 2006 interview with NASA, Phair told how she named the remote and mysterious chunk of rock and ice that orbits the sun in the far reaches of the solar system. It was March 14, 1930, she was 11 and the family was at breakfast, she said. Her grandfather, the retired head of the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, read a newspaper account of the discovery of the mysterious new planet. He wondered aloud what it should be called. "And for some reason," she told NASA, "I, after a short pause, said, 'Why not Pluto?' "

Acquainted with classical mythology, Phair knew the planets. She knew how they, according to their size, color or speed, had been given the names of the ancient gods. She said later that she had not really tried to connect the darkness of the mythic Pluto's dominion with the darkness far from the sun. It was mostly, she suggested, that the name Pluto had not been used.

Her grandfather, Falconer Madan, quickly saw the merit in the girl's suggestion. He carried it to an astronomer he knew. Endorsed speedily at Britain's highest astronomical levels, the proposal went on to the Lowell observatory in Arizona, where the discovery had been made. Names were under consideration there.

The announcement came May 1, 1930: Pluto. Phair was given public credit. (The ensuing revival of interest in the mythical figure reportedly inspired the naming of the Walt Disney cartoon dog: Pluto.)

"Yes, I certainly was thrilled," Phair replied when asked about her response to the goings-on. "It was very exciting for a small girl, really, at the time."

Over the years, an asteroid was named for Phair, as was an instrument carried on a NASA spacecraft that was sent to Pluto.

WASHINGTON POST