Lilliputia is asteroid #2952 and also known as 1979 SF₂. Lilliputia was discovered by the Russian-born Soviet astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh (Никола́й Степа́нович Черны́х) at the Nauchnij Research Campus Station of the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory. Lilliputia’s orbit is characterized by a semi-major axis of 2.31 Astronomical Units, an eccentricity of 0.17, a period of revolution of 1 286 days, and an inclination of 3.3 degrees.

Lilliputia is named after the fictional land Lilliput from the 1726 prose satire Gulliver’s Travels or Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships by the Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift. It is a classic of English literature, has been popular across all social classes, and is the best-known work of Jonathan Swift. The first chapter describes how Lemuel Gulliver stranded on the island Lilliput and got captivated by the people, who live there. They had only a twelfth of his size and were aware that he could be a threat to them. They were hospitable in the beginning, but did later show their true face and tried to use Gulliver. He agreed until they wanted that he conquered other countries for them. Then he had to flee from the island.

Lilliputia was chosen as the name for the asteroid #2952 because she (Lilliputia is a feminized form) is one of the smallest asteroids discovered at the observatory. The official naming citation uses the expression “one of the smallest”, so the asteroid most likely isn’t the smallest. It measures approximately six kilometers in diameter. Because Gulliver, the discoverer of the island Lilliput, describes himself as twelve times as tall as the inhabitants of the island, so I think that Lilliputia represents arrogance. The inhabitants of Lilliput aren’t less arrogant when they treat Gulliver as a subject of their king. Lilliputia can in general indicate that something is much smaller than it seems.