Columbium (alama "Cb") shi ne sunan da Hatchett ya ba shi a lokacin da ya gano karfe a 1801. Sunan ya nuna cewa samfurin samfurin ya fito ne daga Amurka (Columbia). Wannan sunan ya ci gaba da amfani da shi a cikin mujallolin Amurka <unk> takarda na karshe da Kamfanin Kimiyya na Amurka ya wallafa tare da columbium a cikin taken sa ya fito ne daga 1953 <unk> yayin da aka yi amfani da niobium a Turai. Don kawo karshen wannan rikice-rikice, an zabi sunan niobium don kashi 41 a taron 15 na Union of Chemistry a Amsterdam a shekarar 1949.
Ƙungiyar Ƙasa ta Duniya ta Pure da Applied Chemistry