Named in honor of Willy De Rop (1933– ), astronomer at the Royal Observatory, Uccle, on the occasion of his retirement. Besides his professional work in positional astronomy, timekeeping and rotation of the earth, De Rop has been involved in the popularization of astronomy and several other cultural societies in Belgium. For several years he was most helpful in taking care of the communication of telexes between the discoverer and observation sites, and also the Minor Planet Center. (M 22251) _ _.