Mignon, R6, CR2032 – are you able to decipher battery names?
9/12/2025
Translation: Natalie McKay
Pictures: Martin Jungfer
After reading this article, you’ll be able to show off your knowledge of battery designations. Have you ever wondered why one battery is called LR6 and another CR2032? Well, here’s the answer.
It’s no coincidence that batteries are called what they’re called. Our popular energy storage devices for all kinds of appliances – from LED fairy lights on the Christmas tree to remote controls – reveal more than you might think from their names.
Let’s start by taking a look at the popular AA battery. We have the Americans to thank for the name having an «A» in it. Over a hundred years ago, they wanted to tell different battery sizes apart, and started with «A» for the smallest at the time. But batteries got even smaller, so «A» turned into «AA», followed by «AAA». There are now even AAAA batteries only as thin as a pen.
As you can see, what someone came up with a long time ago no longer works today. That’s why the battery industry uses different terms than we do in everyday life. For example, we also know the AA battery as «Mignon», which comes from French and means «cute». But, of course, there are actually standards and regulations covering this subject.
The official designations for our batteries come from the International Electrotechnical Commission, IEC for short, a Geneva-based organisation registered as a non-profit association. More than 80 countries in the world are members, while almost all others at least have the status of «partner».
Fame and honour to this day
This IEC decided that the AA (or Mignon) battery would officially be called «R6». The «R» indicates that the battery is round, the 6 defines the size. But the number has nothing to do with the diameter or length. That would be far too logical. If the R6 battery is an alkaline manganese cell, it can and must be called LR6. «LR» commemorates the battery’s inventor, Georges Leclanché. Around 1866, he was working on an electric primary storage device.
The original Leclanché cell had a zinc anode and ammonium chloride as the liquid electrolyte. Its technical properties were continuously improved, and it enjoyed commercial success for many decades. It was used, for example, to power railroad telegraph systems and house bells. The «Leclanché Round», abbreviated as LR, still exists today in honour of Georges Leclanché.
In the USA, no one’s interested in the old Frenchman. There, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) decides how batteries are named. The European R6 then becomes the 15. The smaller AAA battery is then the 23. The ANSI changes the IEC’s designation for an AAA battery to LR03. Where did the 0 suddenly come from? It happened once and nobody’s ever changed it in the alkali metal round cell system (it really is called that).
Button cells are less chaotic
Compared to cylindrical batteries, the nomenclature of button cells comes as a relief for logical thinkers. First of all, what even is a button cell? By definition, a «cylindrical battery where the total height is less than the diameter». So far, so good. These three are popular button cells.
In the CR2032, the «C» stands for the chemical composition, specifically lithium manganese dioxide. The «R» (see above) means that the button cell is round. The 2032 consists of two numbers, 20 and 32. The 20 explains the diameter in millimetres, the 32 the overall height – but in tenths of a millimetre rather than in millimetres. You’ve got to liven things up somehow, and otherwise the battery would be taller than it is wide, and therefore no longer a button cell (also see above).
Its two counterparts aren’t as easy to decipher. The LR44 and the LR54 don’t give any hints about their size. This is why the LR54 also has an official IEC designation: LR1130, i.e. 11 millimetres in diameter and three millimetres high. The LR44 has several other names: AG13, A76, V13GA, 357 and LR1154. The latter is the most useful for working out the size: the diameter is about 11 millimetres, the height 5.4 millimetres.
At the start of the article, I promised I’d give you some knowledge to show off. Or maybe it’ll just come in handy the next time you need to buy batteries.
Martin Jungfer
Head of Content
Martin.Jungfer@digitecgalaxus.chJournalist since 1997. Stopovers in Franconia (or the Franken region), Lake Constance, Obwalden, Nidwalden and Zurich. Father since 2014. Expert in editorial organisation and motivation. Focus on sustainability, home office tools, beautiful things for the home, creative toys and sports equipment.
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