function 'return' and file content into a list

[volcano63]

### GET THE 3 USER ANSWERS
#==============================
def get_names():
	userlist = [] #setup to contain only lower case data
	print("List any 3 of the first 20 elements in the Period table.")
	while len(userlist)<3:
		userinput = input("Enter the name of an element:\t")
		if userinput.isalpha: <----- 1
			if userlist.count(userinput) == 0: <----- 2
				userlist.append(userinput.lower())
				#print(userinput.title() + "was already entered, no duplicates allowed.")
			else:
				print(userinput.title() + "was already entered, no duplicates allowed.")
				#userlist.append(userinput.lower())
		else: <----- 3
			pass
	return userlist
.....

1. You are not calling a function - you are checking that userinput.isalpha is non-empty object (it is). Add brackets.
   
2. You add lowercase string - but you check string as is. Lower-case the string before the test - and don't use count, use in operator
   

   if userlist in userinput

3. Redundant
   

General comment - separate words in variable names with underscores, see PEP-8