Editing Stellar designations and names (section)

== Proper names ==
{{main article|List of proper names of stars}}
{{main article|IAU Working Group on Star Names}}

Several hundred of the [[brightest stars]] had traditional names, most of which derived from [[Arabic language|Arabic]], but a few from [[Latin]].<ref>[[NASA]] in 1971 compiled a "technical memorandum" collecting a total of  537 named stars.
[https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19720005197 Rhoads, J. W.,''Technical Memorandum 33-507 – A Reduced Star Catalog Containing 537 Named Stars'', NASA-CR-124573 (1971).]
</ref> There were a number of problems with these names, however:
* Spellings were often not standardized ([[Gamma Andromedae|Almach]] or Almaach or Almak or Alamak)
* Many stars had more than one name of roughly equal popularity ([[Alpha Persei|Mirfak]] or Algenib or Alcheb; [[Gamma Velorum|Regor]] or Suhail al Muhlif; [[Eta Ursae Majoris|Alkaid]] or Benetnasch; [[Alpha Coronae Borealis|Gemma]] or Alphecca; [[Alpha Andromedae|Alpheratz]] and Sirrah)
* Because of imprecision in old [[star catalog]]s, it was not always clear exactly which star within a constellation a particular name corresponded to (e.g., Alniyat could refer to [[Sigma Scorpii]] or [[Tau Scorpii]]).
* Some stars in entirely different constellations had the same name: [[Alpha Persei|Algenib in Perseus]] and [[Gamma Pegasi|Algenib in Pegasus]]; [[Gienah in Cygnus]] and [[Gienah in Corvus]], [[Alpha Gruis|Alnair in Grus]] and [[Zeta Centauri|Alnair in Centaurus]].

In 2016, the [[IAU]] organized a [[IAU Working Group on Star Names|Working Group on Star Names]] (WGSN)<ref name="WGSN">{{cite web | url=https://www.iau.org/science/scientific_bodies/working_groups/280/ | title=IAU Working Group on Star Names (WGSN)|access-date=22 May 2016}}</ref> to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin dated July 2016<ref name="WGSN1">{{cite web | url=http://www.pas.rochester.edu/~emamajek/WGSN/WGSN_bulletin1.pdf | title=Bulletin of the IAU Working Group on Star Names, No. 1 |access-date=11 August 2016}}</ref> included a table of 125 stars comprising the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN (on 30 June and 20 July 2016) together with names of stars (including four traditional star names: [[Epsilon Tauri|Ain]], [[Iota Draconis|Edasich]], [[Gamma Cephei|Errai]] and [[Fomalhaut]]) reviewed and adopted by the IAU Executive Committee Working Group on Public Naming of Planets and Planetary Satellites during the 2015 NameExoWorlds campaign<ref name="IAUresults">[http://www.iau.org/news/pressreleases/detail/iau1514/ Final Results of NameExoWorlds Public Vote Released], International Astronomical Union, 15 December 2015.</ref> and recognized by the WGSN. Further batches of names were approved on 21&nbsp;August, 12 September, 5 October and 6 November 2016. These were listed in a table of 102 stars included in the WGSN's second bulletin dated November 2016.<ref name="WGSN2">{{cite web | url=http://www.pas.rochester.edu/~emamajek/WGSN/WGSN_bulletin2.pdf | title=Bulletin of the IAU Working Group on Star Names, No. 2 |access-date=12 October 2016}}</ref> The next additions were done on 1 February 2017 (13 new star names), 30 June 2017 (29), 5 September 2017 (41), 17 November 2017 (3) and 1 June 2018 (17). All 330 names are included in the current List of IAU-approved Star Names, last updated on 1 June 2018 (with a minor correction posted on 11 June 2018).<ref name="IAU-LSN"/>

In practice, names are only universally used for the very [[list of brightest stars|brightest stars]] ([[Sirius]], [[Arcturus]], [[Vega]], etc.) and for a small number of slightly less bright but "interesting" stars ([[Algol]], [[Polaris]], [[Mira]], etc.). For other naked eye stars, the [[Bayer designation|Bayer]] or [[Flamsteed designation]] is often preferred.

In addition to the traditional names, a small number of stars that are "interesting" can have modern [[English language|English]] names. For instance, two second-magnitude stars, [[Alpha Pavonis]] and [[Epsilon Carinae]], were assigned the proper names Peacock and Avior respectively in 1937 by [[Her Majesty's Nautical Almanac Office]] during the creation of ''The Air Almanac'', a navigational almanac for the [[Royal Air Force]].  Of the fifty-seven stars included in the new almanac, these two had no traditional names.  The RAF insisted that all of the stars must have names, so new names were invented for them.<ref>{{cite web
| url=http://www.hmnao.com/nao/history/dhs_gaw/nao_perhist_0802_cyh_part_2.pdf
| title=A Personal History of H.M. Nautical Almanac Office
| first=Donald H.
| last=Sadler
| date=2008
| work=[[United Kingdom Hydrographic Office]]
| access-date=2010-09-26
| archive-date=2010-12-25
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101225000825/http://www.hmnao.com/nao/history/dhs_gaw/nao_perhist_0802_cyh_part_2.pdf
| url-status=dead
}}</ref> These names have been approved by the IAU WGSN.<ref name="IAU-LSN"/>

The book ''[[Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning]]'' by R. H. Allen (1899)<ref>{{cite book
| title=Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning
| author=Richard Hinckley Allen
| date=1963-06-01
| publisher=[[Dover Publications]]
| url=https://archive.org/details/starnamestheirlo00alle
| isbn=((978-0486210797))
| url-access=registration
}}</ref> has had effects on star names:
*It lists many [[Akkadian language|Assyrian/Babylonian]] and [[Sumer]]ian star names recovered by [[archaeology]], and some of these (e.g. [[Theta Scorpii|Sargas]] and [[Sigma Sagittarii|Nunki]]) have since been approved by the IAU WGSN.<ref name="IAU-LSN"/>
*It lists many [[Chinese star names]] (e.g. [[Tsih|Cih]] alias [[Tsih]]), though these have not come into general usage.
*Allen represented the "kh" sound by 'h' with a [[Dot (diacritic)|dot]] above (ḣ) and at least one astronomy book (by [[Patrick Moore]]), using Allen as a source, has misread this unfamiliar letter as 'li'.<!--relevance of this trivial mistake?-->

=== Stars named for individuals ===
{{main article|Stars named after people}}

A few stars are named for individuals. These are mostly names in common use that were taken up by the scientific community at some juncture. The first such case (discounting characters from mythology) was [[Cor Caroli]] (α CVn), named in the 17th century for [[Charles I of England]]. The remaining examples are mostly named after astronomers, the best known are probably [[Barnard's Star]] (which has the highest known [[proper motion]] of any star and is thus notable even though it is far too faint to be seen with the naked eye), [[Kapteyn's Star]] and recently [[Tabby's Star]].

The [[International Astronomical Union]] has held two [[NameExoWorlds]] contests to give proper names to exoplanets and their host stars, in 2014/5 and 2019.<ref>{{cite press release |url=http://www.iau.org/news/pressreleases/detail/iau1404/ |title=NameExoWorlds: An IAU Worldwide Contest to Name Exoplanets and their Host Stars |publisher=IAU.org |date=9 July 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nameexoworlds.iau.org/final-results|title=Approved names|website=NameExoworlds|language=en|access-date=2021-03-15}}</ref> As a result, several stars were named after people, including Cervantes for [[Mu Arae]], Copernicus for [[55 Cancri|55 Cancri A]],<ref name="IAUresults"/><ref name="IAUnames">{{cite web|url=http://nameexoworlds.iau.org/names|title=NameExoWorlds|website=nameexoworlds.iau.org|access-date=2018-02-12|archive-date=2018-02-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180201043609/http://nameexoworlds.iau.org/names|url-status=dead}}</ref> and [[Rosalíadecastro]] (HD 149143) after the writer [[Rosalía de Castro]].