Kot periodični kometi se obravnavajo tisti kometi, ki imajo obhodno dobo manjšo od 200 let ali pa tisti, ki so jih opazovali pri več kot enem prehodu prisončja.
Periodični kometi dobijo svojo stalno oznako šele po drugem prehodu prisončja, zaradi tega je tudi veliko neoštevilčenih periodičnih kometov.
V večini primerov dobijo kometi ime po svojem odkritelju (odkriteljih), nekaj pa je primerov (npr. 2P/Encke in 27P/Crommelin), ki so dobili ime po osebi, ki je izračunala njihovo tirnico. Tirnice kometov je zelo težko izračunati zaradi vseh mogočih vplivov planetov. V dobi pred računalniki so nekateri vse svoje življenje posvetili samo temu, da so določili tirnico nekemu kometu.
Periodični kometi včasih nosijo ime, ki se večkrat ponavlja (npr. devet Shoemaker-Levy kometov ali 24 kometov NEAT. Mednarodna astronomska zveza jih loči med seboj tako, da dobijo dodatno številko ali pa s pomočjo polne oznake (npr. 181P in 192P sta oba Shoemaker-Levy kometa, prvi je Shoemaker-Levy 6, drugi pa Shoemaker-Levy 1). Neperiodični kometi Shoemaker-Levy se vključijo v to zaporedje na naslednji način: komet C/1991 B1 je med 2 in 3, C/1991 T2 je vstavljen med 5 in 6, C/1993 K1 in C/1994 E2 sta pa vključena za Shoemaker-Levy 9.
Oznaka pred "/" je lahko "C" (neperiodočni komet) ali "P" (periodični komet) ali "D" (izgubljeni ali razpadli komet) ali "X" (kometu se ne da izračunati prave tirnice – običajno kometi iz preteklosti) ali "A" (telesa, ki so jih pomotoma imeli za komete, običajno so to asteroidi).
V nekaterih seznamih neperiodični kometi obdržijo oznako "C" tudi več kot 30 let, dokler njihova vrnitev ni potrjena (primeri: C/2008 E1 (Catalina) in P/2008 E1 (Catalina 9).
Oštevilčeni periodični kometi Ime kometaOdkritelj(i) 1P/Halley Halley 2P/Encke Encke 3D/Biela Biela 4P/Faye Faye 5D/Brorsen Brorsen 6P/d'Arrest d'Arrest 7P/Pons-Winnecke Pons & Winnecke 8P/Tuttle Tuttle 9P/Tempel (Tempel 1) Tempel 10P/Tempel (Tempel 2) Tempel 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR Tempel & Swift & LINEAR 12P/Pons-Brooks Pons & Brooks 13P/Olbers Olbers 14P/Wolf Wolf 15P/Finlay Finlay 16P/Brooks (Brooks 2) Brooks 17P/Holmes Holmes 18D/Perrine-Mrkos Perrine & Mrkos 19P/Borrelly Borrelly 20D/Westphal Westphal 21P/Giacobini-Zinner Giacobini & Zinner 22P/Kopff Kopff 23P/Brorsen-Metcalf Brorsen & Metcalf 24P/Schaumasse Schaumasse 25D/Neujmin (Neujmin 2) Neujmin 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup Grigg & Skjellerup 27P/Crommelin (Pons-Coggia-Winnecke-Forbes) Crommelin 28P/Neujmin (Neujmin 1) Neujmin 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann (Schwassmann-Wachmann 1) Schwassmann & Wachmann 30P/Reinmuth (Reinmuth 1) Reinmuth 31P/Schwassmann-Wachmann (Schwassmann-Wachmann 2) Schwassmann & Wachmann 32P/Comas Solá Comas i Solà 33P/Daniel Daniel 34D/Gale Gale 35P/Herschel-Rigollet Herschel & Rigollet 36P/Whipple Whipple 37P/Forbes Forbes 38P/Stephan-Oterma Stephan & Oterma 39P/Oterma Oterma 40P/Väisälä (Väisälä 1) Väisälä 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresák Tuttle & Giacobini & Kresák 42P/Neujmin (Neujmin 3) Neujmin 43P/Wolf-Harrington Wolf & Harrington 44P/Reinmuth (Reinmuth 2) Reinmuth 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková Honda & Mrkos & Pajdušáková 46P/Wirtanen Wirtanen 47P/Ashbrook-Jackson Ashbrook & Jackson 48P/Johnson Johnson 49P/Arend-Rigaux Arend & Rigaux 50P/Arend Arend 51P/Harrington Harrington 52P/Harrington-Abell Harrington & Abell 53P/Van Biesbroeck Van Biesbroeck 54P/de Vico-Swift-NEAT de Vico & Swift & NEAT 55P/Tempel-Tuttle Tempel & Tuttle 56P/Slaughter-Burnham Slaughter & Burnham 57P/du Toit-Neujmin-Delporte du Toit & Neujmin & Delporte 58P/Jackson-Neujmin Jackson & Neujmin 59P/Kearns-Kwee Kearns & Kwee 60P/Tsuchinshan (Tsuchinshan 2) Tsuchinshan 61P/Shajn-Schaldach Šajn & Schaldach 62P/Tsuchinshan (Tsuchinshan 1) Tsuchinshan 63P/Wild (Wild 1) Wild 64P/Swift-Gehrels Swift & Gehrels 65P/Gunn Gunn 66P/du Toit du Toit 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko Churyumov & Gerasimenko 68P/Klemola Klemola 69P/Taylor Taylor 70P/Kojima Kojima 71P/Clark Clark 72P/Denning-Fujikawa Denning & Fujikawa 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann (Schwassmann-Wachmann 3) Schwassmann & Wachmann 74P/Smirnova-Chernykh Smirnova & N. S. Černih 75D/Kohoutek Kohoutek 76P/West-Kohoutek-Ikemura West & Kohoutek & Ikemura 77P/Longmore Longmore 78P/Gehrels (Gehrels 2) Gehrels 79P/du Toit-Hartley du Toit & Hartley 80P/Peters-Hartley Peters & Hartley 81P/Wild (Wild 2) Wild 82P/Gehrels (Gehrels 3) Gehrels 83P/Russell (Russell 1) Russell 84P/Giclas Henry L. Giclas 85P/Boethin Boethin 86P/Wild (Wild 3) Wild 87P/Bus Bus 88P/Howell Howell 89P/Russell (Russell 2) Russell 90P/Gehrels (Gehrels 1) Gehrels 91P/Russell (Russell 3) Russell 92P/Sanguin Sanguin 93P/Lovas (Lovas 1) Lovas 94P/Russell (Russell 4) Russell 95P/Hiron = asteroid 2060 Hiron Kowal 96P/Machholz (Machholz 1) Machholz 97P/Metcalf-Brewington Metcalf & Brewington 98P/Takamizawa Takamizava 99P/Kowal (Kowal 1) Kowal 100P/Hartley (Hartley 1) Hartley 101P/Chernykh Nikolaj S. Černih 102P/Shoemaker (Shoemaker 1) C. Shoemaker & E. Shoemaker 103P/Hartley (Hartley 2) Hartley 104P/Kowal (Kowal 2) Kowal 105P/Singer Brewster Singer-Brewster 106P/Schuster Schuster 107P/Wilson-Harrington = asteroid 4015 Wilson-Harrington Helin & Wilson & Harrington 108P/Ciffréo Ciffréo 109P/Swift-Tuttle Swift & Tuttle 110P/Hartley (Hartley 3) Hartley 111P/Helin-Roman-Crockett Helin & Roman & Crockett 112P/Urata-Niijima Urata & Niidžima 113P/Spitaler Spitaler 114P/Wiseman-Skiff Wiseman & Skiff 115P/Maury Maury 116P/Wild (Wild 4) Wild 117P/Helin-Roman-Alu (Helin-Roman-Alu 1) Helin & Roman & Alu 118P/Shoemaker-Levy (Shoemaker-Levy 4) C. Shoemaker, E. Shoemaker & Levy 119P/Parker-Hartley Parker & Hartley 120P/Mueller (Mueller 1) Mueller 121P/Shoemaker-Holt (Shoemaker-Holt 2) C.Shoemaker, E.Shoemaker & Holt 122P/de Vico de Vico 123P/West-Hartley West & Hartley 124P/Mrkos Mrkos 125P/Spacewatch (Spacewatch 1) Spacewatch 126P/IRAS IRAS 127P/Holt-Olmstead Holt & Olmstead 128P/Shoemaker-Holt (Shoemaker-Holt 1) C. Shoemaker, E. Shoemaker & Holt 129P/Shoemaker-Levy (Shoemaker-Levy 3) C. Shoemaker, E. Shoemaker & Levy 130P/McNaught-Hughes McNaught & Hughes 131P/Mueller (Mueller 2) Mueller 132P/Helin-Roman-Alu (Helin-Roman-Alu 2) Helin & Roman & Alu 133P/Elst-Pizarro = asteroid 7968 Elst-Pizarro Elst & Pizarro 134P/Kowal-Vávrová Kowal & Vávrová 135P/Shoemaker-Levy (Shoemaker-Levy 8) C. Shoemaker, E. Shoemaker & Levy 136P/Mueller (Mueller 3) Mueller 137P/Shoemaker-Levy (Shoemaker-Levy 2) C. Shoemaker, E. Shoemaker & Levy 138P/Shoemaker-Levy (Shoemaker-Levy 7) C. Shoemaker, E. Shoemaker & Levy 139P/Väisälä-Oterma Väisälä & Oterma 140P/Bowell-Skiff Bowell & Skiff 141P/Machholz (Machholz 2) Machholz 142P/Ge-Wang Ge & Wang 143P/Kowal-Mrkos Kowal & Mrkos 144P/Kushida Kušida 145P/Shoemaker-Levy (Shoemaker-Levy 5) C. Shoemaker, E. Shoemaker & Levy 146P/Shoemaker-LINEAR C. Shoemaker, E. Shoemaker & LINEAR 147P/Kushida-Muramatsu Kušida & Muramacu 148P/Anderson-LINEAR Anderson & LINEAR 149P/Mueller (Mueller 4) Mueller 150P/LONEOS (LONEOS 3) LONEOS 151P/Helin Helin 152P/Helin-Lawrence Helin & Lawrence 153P/Ikeya-Zhang Ikeya & Zhang 154P/Brewington Brewington 155P/Shoemaker (Shoemaker 3) C. Shoemaker & E. Shoemaker 156P/Russell-LINEAR Russell & LINEAR 157P/Tritton Tritton 158P/Kowal-LINEAR Kowal & LINEAR 159P/LONEOS (LONEOS 7) LONEOS 160P/LINEAR (LINEAR 43) LINEAR 161P/Hartley-IRAS Hartley & IRAS 162P/Siding Spring (Siding Spring 2) Siding Spring 163P/NEAT (NEAT 21) NEAT 164P/Christensen (Christensen 2) Christensen 165P/LINEAR (LINEAR 10) LINEAR 166P/NEAT (NEAT 8) NEAT 167P/CINEOS CINEOS 168P/Hergenrother (Hergenrother 1) Hergenrother 169P/NEAT (NEAT 22) NEAT 170P/Christensen (Christensen 4) Christensen 171P/Spahr (Spahr 2) Spahr 172P/Yeung Yeung 173P/Mueller (Mueller 5) Mueller 174P/Echeclus = asteroid 60558 Eheklej Spacewatch 175P/Hergenrother (Hergenrother 2) Hergenrother 176P/LINEAR (LINEAR 52) = asteroid 118401 LINEAR LINEAR 177P/Barnard (Barnard 2) Barnard 178P/Hug-Bell Hug & Bell 179P/Jedicke (Jedicke 1) Jedicke 180P/NEAT (NEAT 3) NEAT 181P/Shoemaker-Levy (Shoemaker-Levy 6) C. Shoemaker, E. Shoemaker & Levy 182P/LONEOS (LONEOS 6) LONEOS 183P/Korlević-Jurić Korlević & Jurić 184P/Lovas (Lovas 2) Lovas 185P/Petriew Petriew 186P/Garradd (Garradd 1) Garradd 187P/LINEAR (LINEAR 4) LINEAR 188P/LINEAR-Mueller LINEAR & Mueller 189P/NEAT (NEAT 10) NEAT 190P/Mueller Mueller 191P/McNaught (McNaught 11) McNaught 192P/Shoemaker-Levy (Shoemaker-Levy 1) C. Shoemaker, E. Shoemaker & Levy 193P/LINEAR-NEAT (LINEAR-NEAT 2) LINEAR & NEAT 194P/LINEAR (LINEAR 9) LINEAR 195P/Hill (Hill 3) Hill 196P/Tichý Tichý IAUC 8917 197P/LINEAR (LINEAR 30) LINEAR IAUC 8924 198P/ODAS ODAS , IAUC 8929 199P/Shoemaker (Shoemaker 4) C. Shoemaker & E. Shoemaker CBET 1347 200P/Larsen (Larsen 1) Larsen 201P/LONEOS (LONEOS 4) LONEOS 202P/Scotti (Scotti 2) Scotti 203P/Korlević Korlević IAUC 8974 204P/LINEAR-NEAT (LINEAR-NEAT 3) LINEAR & NEAT IAUC 8974 205P/Giacobini Giacobini (prej se je mislilo, da je izgubljen in da je razpadel D/1896 R2) IAUC 8975 206P/Barnard-Boattini Barnard & Boattini (prej se je mislilo, da je izgubljen in da je razpadel D/1892 T1 (Barnard 3)) IAUC 8995 207P/NEAT (NEAT 4) NEAT IAUC 8996 208P/McMillan McMillan IAUC 8997, IAUC 9000 209P/LINEAR (LINEAR 41) LINEAR IAUC 9002 210P/Christensen (Christensen 1) Christensen IAUC 9005 211P/Hill (Hill 7) Hill (Catalina Sky Survey) IAUC 9001 212P/NEAT (NEAT 24) NEAT IAUC 9010 213P/Van Ness (Van Ness 2) Van Ness IAUC 9017 214P/LINEAR (LINEAR 22) LINEAR IAUC 9017 215P/NEAT (NEAT 11) NEAT IAUC 9018 216P/LINEAR (LINEAR 16) LINEAR IAUC 9021 217P/LINEAR (LINEAR 17) LINEAR 218P/LINEAR (LINEAR 29) LINEAR 219P/LINEAR (LINEAR 38) LINEAR 220P/McNaught (McNaught 1) McNaught 221P/LINEAR (LINEAR 25) LINEAR 222P/LINEAR (LINEAR 46) LINEAR 223P/Skiff (Skiff 2) Skiff 224P/LINEAR-NEAT (LINEAR-NEAT 5) LINEAR & NEAT 225P/LINEAR (LINEAR 26) LINEAR 226P/Pigott-LINEAR-Kowalski Pigott & LINEAR & Kowalski 227P/Catalina-LINEAR Catalina Sky Survey & LINEAR 228P/LINEAR LINEAR
Neoštevilčeni periodični kometi