Why is the symbol for nitrogen N?

Answer 1

Nitrogen is a fairly common element, being far down the periodic chart (well below iron). The word begins with the letter N, which is why N was chosen to represent nitrogen. Similarly, H represent Hydrogen, C Carbon, O Oxygen, S Sulfur, I Iodine, and so on. Although iron may be more common than iodine, the latin "ferrous" is a common word, meaning iron, so Fe was chosen for it. There had to be trade offs here and there because there are only 26 letters in our alphabet but about 92 naturally occurring elements.

Answer 2

The symbol for nitrogen is "N" because it comes from the Latin word "nitrogenium." The symbol "N" was derived from the first letter of the element's name.