An explanation is presented for each of the more than 300 scientific names given to odonate taxa by the Swiss odonatologist Friedrich Ris (1867-1931), likewise for the names by other authors, into which taxa named (or mistaken) by Ris are now classified. But prior to that part, information is given about the life and work of this scientist. Finally, his preferences in odonatological nomenclature are analysed and his importance for the taxonomy of Odonata is appraised.