Cabochon in classic setting made of silver 925.
The first, very small Sugilite finds were made in 1944 by Japanese professor Ken-ichi Sugi in Ehime Prefecture, Japan. A precise description was not made until a good thirty years later by a group of Japanese mineralogists in 1976, who named it after its discoverer, Ken-ichi Sugi. The sometimes encountered spelling Sugelith, Sugulith or Suggilith are therefore not correct. In the trade Sugilite is also called New Age Stone or New Age Stone; a synonym for Sugilite is also Luvulite.