Born in Oxford, England on 1919, Venetia Burney is the great neice of Henry Madan who is credited with naming the two moons of Mars -Phobos and Deimos.

One morning, on March 14, 1930, at the breakfast table, Falconer Madan read the discovery of Pluto from the Times of London to his granddaughter Venetia and asked her to suggest a name for it. Knowledgeable in astronomy and mythology and of the initials of astronomer Percival Lowell who looked for the planet, she suggested the name Pluto, which Falconer immediately liked and forwarded to the Lowell Observatory through an astronomer. The name stuck and was officially made public on May 1st, 1930, and Venetia became a celebrity.

Venetia grew up to be an English teacher, and is presently 87 years old, living with her husband(Phair) and son in Epsom, England