Psyche was discovered by Annibale de Gasparis on March 17, 1852 from Naples and named after the Greek mythological figure Psyche. The first fifteen asteroids to be discovered were given symbols by astronomers as a type of shorthand notation. In 1851, however, J. F. Encke suggested using a circled number. 16 Psyche was the first new asteroid to be discovered that was designated with this scheme (in 1852 by J. Ferguson).