Phage Name Check

Abedon, Stephen T.

doi:10.5281/zenodo.21121096

Check a Phage Name

Enter a proposed phage name below. Most buttons open a new browser tab with the relevant search — the exception is 📋 Names 2000, which searches within this app. Bacteriophage Names 2000 and the ICTV taxonomy browser are the most important first checks, since names already present there should not be reused.

Phage name:

Priority checks — search within this app or ICTV directly

📋 Names 2000 searches the embedded Bacteriophage Names 2000 database within this app — no new tab. 🏛️ ICTV Taxonomy opens the ICTV taxonomy browser homepage in a new tab — note that ICTV does not support direct search links, so you will need to enter the name manually on their site. Names found in either source should not be reused.

Qualified searches — phage name with qualifier (more stringent)

Each button opens a new tab. Searches for "phage [name]" OR "bacteriophage [name]" OR "bacterial virus [name]". Also include "archaeal virus [name]"

bioRxiv qualified searches — one button per phrase

Each button opens a new tab. bioRxiv's search syntax requires separate searches per phrase.

Unqualified searches — phage name without qualifier (less stringent)

Each button opens a new tab. Searches the bare quoted name.

PhagesDB.org domain search

Google search restricted to the PhagesDB.org domain — opens a new tab. Useful for SEA-PHAGES and student-characterized phages.

⚠️ Remember: If you succeed in locating prior use of a phage name — do not reuse it! Unique phage names are essential for clear communication in the scientific literature.

Guidance on Naming Bacteriophages

The following guidance is drawn from published recommendations in the phage literature. Adhering to these conventions helps ensure that phage names remain unique, searchable, and unambiguous in the scientific record. For guidance on how to name phages, see Adriaenssens & Brister (2017) and Kropinski, Prangishvili & Lavigne (2009).

General Principles

Choose a name that is not already in use — that is the primary purpose of this tool.
Keep names short, memorable, and easy to type.
Avoid names that are excessively generic (e.g., Phage1) or that could apply to many organisms.
Avoid Greek letters in the name itself; instead use their Latin equivalents (e.g., phi for φ, psi for ψ). Greek letters create search ambiguity and typographic difficulties.
Avoid names that could be confused with host strain designations or other biological entities.

ICTV and Formal Taxonomy

For phages intended for formal taxonomic classification by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV), refer to the ICTV Code of Virus Classification and Nomenclature, as well as the guidance of Adriaenssens & Brister (2017) regarding species demarcation criteria and exemplar genome selection.

SEA-PHAGES and Student Phage Discovery

If your phage was discovered through the SEA-PHAGES program, also consult the PhagesDB.org database, which maintains a registry of student-discovered phages from many host genera. Use the PhagesDB domain search on the Name Search tab — this is relevant for any phage that might appear in PhagesDB, not just Mycobacterium phages.

Checking for Prior Use — Step by Step

Start with a qualified Google search — the quickest first screen across the entire web, including lab pages, course sites, and informal databases. Note that Google results will include many irrelevant pages and a clean result is not a definitive clearance.
Run a qualified Scholar search — the most stringent check of the peer-reviewed and grey literature.
Run a qualified PubMed search to check the biomedical literature specifically.
Run a qualified Europe PMC search to catch preprints and journals outside PubMed's scope.
Run the three bioRxiv buttons ("phage [name]", "bacteriophage [name]", "bacterial virus [name]") to catch biology preprints — bioRxiv requires a separate search per phrase.
Run a qualified NCBI Nucleotide search — many phages are deposited in GenBank before a paper appears.
Run a qualified NCBI Taxonomy search to check formally registered organism names.
Run an unqualified Names 2000 search to check the historical phage name list.
Run a PhagesDB domain search to check the SEA-PHAGES registry for any host genus.
If your virus infects Archaea, note that all qualified searches already include "archaeal virus [name]" in their OR query.
If your proposed name contains a Greek letter, repeat the above with the Latin equivalent (e.g., phi for φ).

Background

This tool originated as an extension of Bacteriophage Names 2000, a resource compiled by Hans-Wolfgang Ackermann and implemented online by Stephen T. Abedon, cataloguing electron micrographically characterized bacteriophages. This updated version improves the interface, adds step-by-step guidance, and incorporates additional search targets.

The searches offered here are not infallible: a name might be in use without appearing prominently in any of the searched databases, and search results may include false positives. Nevertheless, a clear search hit is a strong indication that the name is already taken.

A hit isn't always enough. If you find only a small number of results for an obscure name, it is worth clicking through to the actual entries — publications, sequence records, or database pages — to determine whether they truly describe a phage by that name or are simply false positives. Likewise, a clean search result is not an absolute guarantee of novelty; some phages may exist in lab notes, theses, or grey literature that is not indexed.

What about plain Google? A plain Google search is the simplest starting point and can surface hits from anywhere on the web — including lab pages, course sites, and databases not covered by the other searches. However, it is the least stringent: results will include many irrelevant pages, and the absence of hits does not mean the name is unused. Treat a plain Google search as a quick first screen, not a definitive check.

What about archaeal viruses? If your virus infects Archaea rather than Bacteria, it is conventionally termed an "archaeal virus" rather than a phage — see Abedon & Murray (2013). The qualified searches here include an optional "archaeal virus [name]" term (toggle in the Name Search tab), so this tool can cover both bacterial and archaeal viruses.

What about using AI? AI chatbots (such as ChatGPT or Claude) can sometimes report whether a phage name exists, but they have knowledge cutoffs, do not search live databases, and can confabulate — confidently stating a name is unused when it is not, or vice versa. The searches offered here query live, authoritative databases directly, making them far more reliable for establishing prior use.

For the history of phage nomenclature and the rationale for standardizing phage names, see the references below.

References

For how to name and classify phages:
Adriaenssens, E. M., & Brister, J. R. (2017). How to name and classify your phage: An informal guide. Viruses, 9(4), 70. https://doi.org/10.3390/v9040070
Kropinski, A. M., Prangishvili, D., & Lavigne, R. (2009). Position statement: the creation of a rational scheme for the nomenclature of viruses of Bacteria and Archaea. Archives of Virology, 154(7), 1141–1150. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1462-2920.2009.01970.x
For archaeal virus nomenclature:
Abedon, S. T., & Murray, K. L. (2013). Archaeal viruses, not archaeal phages: an archaeological dig. Archaea, 2013, 251245. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/251245
Bacteriophage Names 2000 — compiled by Hans-Wolfgang Ackermann; implemented by S.T. Abedon:
https://phage.org/names/2000/
Europe PMC — preprints and broad biomedical literature:
https://europepmc.org/
bioRxiv — biology preprint server:
https://www.biorxiv.org/
NCBI Nucleotide (GenBank) — deposited phage sequences:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/
NCBI Taxonomy — formally registered organism names:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/taxonomy/
PhagesDB — SEA-PHAGES phage registry:
https://phagesdb.org/
ICTV — International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses:
https://ictv.global/

📋 Search Bacteriophage Names 2000 & ICTV MSL41

The first bacteriophage known to science was the Bacteriophagum intestinale described by Félix d'Hérelle [3], an enterobacterial phage or mixture of phages considered by d'Hérelle as a single virus with many races. In 1961 Eisenstark published the first list of phages (111 phages) [4]; a second list by Fraenkel-Conrat in 1974 included 411 bacterial viruses [5]. At present, over 5,000 bacteriophages have been studied by electron microscopy and can be attributed to 11 virus families [1]. The purpose of this list is to provide a nearly complete record of phage names in existence, to help scientists in constructing new phage names, and to document this aspect of phage research.

During 80 years, phage names have been constructed in the absence of any system and usually reflect little more than their authors' imagination. Phage nomenclature is therefore in a primitive and confusing state. Phage names may be single letters or numerals in any combination, may include the Greek letter φ or Latin letter P to indicate phage status, may include special characters, and vary between authors and printer conventions. As a result, phage names do not reflect basic phage properties, synonyms and homonyms abound, and some designations are unduly complicated.

The list presented here includes over 5,000 negatively stained phages or defective phages studied by electron microscopy since 1960: 5,112 separate (though not always unique) names, as many as 5,024 presumably unique phage isolates (4,613 of which have names, many of which are homonyms), 351 phage family–host taxon combinations, and 411 phages not named but studied by electron microscopy. Defective phages are indicated as such. Shadowed phages, prophages, mutants, and phages without hosts are omitted.

Hosts are listed in alphabetical order regardless of taxonomical position. Phage names are listed by family, host genus, and in alphabetical and numerical order. Synonyms and spelling variants are indicated in parentheses. Homonyms are repeated as often as they occur.

Naming suggestions (Ackermann): (1) Use the first two letters of the host genus and species names (e.g., Esco for Escherichia coli). (2) Complement with any letters or numerals (e.g., Esco1). (3) Avoid the overused letters φ and P. (4) Avoid superscript or infrascript characters, parentheses, or dashes. (5) Check this or similar phage-name lists for naming precedent. (6) Avoid inventing new names for old phages.

References

Ackermann, H.-W. 2001. Frequency of morphological phage descriptions. Arch. Virol. 146:843–857.
Demerec, M., and Fano, U. 1945. Bacteriophage-resistant mutants in Escherichia coli. Genetics 30:119–136.
D'Hérelle, F. 1918. Technique de la recherche du microbe filtrant bactériophage (Bacteriophagum intestinale). C.R. Soc. Biol. 81:1160–1162.
Eisenstark, A. 1967. Bacteriophage techniques. In: Maramorosch, K., Koprowski, H. (eds.), Methods in Virology, vol. 1. Academic Press, New York, pp. 449–525.
Fraenkel-Conrat, H. 1974. Descriptive catalogue of viruses. In: Fraenkel-Conrat, H., Wagner, R.R. (eds.), Comprehensive Virology, vol. 1. Plenum Press, New York, pp. 121–156.

Compiled by H.-W. Ackermann and uploaded as a website in the year 2000 by S.T. Abedon. Original introduction: phage.org/names/2000/names_introduction.htm

Bacteriophage Names 2000 is a compilation of 5,101 classically named phages compiled by Hans-Wolfgang Ackermann and uploaded as a website in the year 2000 by Stephen T. Abedon. Family names shown are pre-2021 historical classifications. Where a current ICTV family assignment is known (from MSL41), it is shown in the Current Family column.

ICTV MSL41 data (7,348 bacteriophage and archaeal virus species) is from the ICTV Master Species List 2025 (MSL41), released 2026-03-20. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19154110. The ICTV taxonomy browser is the authoritative source — please visit ictv.global/taxonomy for the most current and complete information.

To download the full Names 2000 dataset as a spreadsheet:

Show ICTV MSL41 data Show only ICTV data Exact match only

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[1] For how to name and classify phages:
Adriaenssens, E. M., & Brister, J. R. (2017). How to name and classify your phage: An informal guide. Viruses, 9(4), 70. https://doi.org/10.3390/v9040070

[2] Kropinski, A. M., Prangishvili, D., & Lavigne, R. (2009). Position statement: the creation of a rational scheme for the nomenclature of viruses of Bacteria and Archaea. Archives of Virology, 154(7), 1141–1150. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1462-2920.2009.01970.x

[3] For archaeal virus nomenclature:
Abedon, S. T., & Murray, K. L. (2013). Archaeal viruses, not archaeal phages: an archaeological dig. Archaea, 2013, 251245. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/251245

[4] Bacteriophage Names 2000 — compiled by Hans-Wolfgang Ackermann; implemented by S.T. Abedon:
https://phage.org/names/2000/

[5] Europe PMC — preprints and broad biomedical literature:
https://europepmc.org/

[6] bioRxiv — biology preprint server:
https://www.biorxiv.org/

[7] NCBI Nucleotide (GenBank) — deposited phage sequences:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/

[8] NCBI Taxonomy — formally registered organism names:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/taxonomy/

[9] PhagesDB — SEA-PHAGES phage registry:
https://phagesdb.org/

[10] ICTV — International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses:
https://ictv.global/

🔬 Phage Name Check

⚡ Open Multiple Tabs?

Check a Phage Name

Guidance on Naming Bacteriophages

General Principles

ICTV and Formal Taxonomy

SEA-PHAGES and Student Phage Discovery

Checking for Prior Use — Step by Step

Background

References

📋 Search Bacteriophage Names 2000 & ICTV MSL41

🧮 Phage Biology, Phage Therapy, and Teaching Calculators