These names of stars that have either been approved by the International Astronomical Union or which have been in somewhat recent use. IAU approval comes mostly from its Working Group on Star Names, which has been publishing a "List of IAU-approved Star Names" since 2016. As of August 2026, the list included a total of 626 proper names of stars.
Background Of the roughly 10,000 stars visible to the naked eye, only a few hundred have been given proper names in the history of astronomy. Traditional astronomy tends to group stars into constellations or asterisms and give proper names to those, not to individual stars. Many star names are, in origin, descriptive of the part in the constellation they are found in; thus Phecda, a corruption of Arabic فخذ الدب (fakhdh ad-dubb, 'thigh of the bear'). Only a handful of the brightest stars have individual proper names not depending on their asterism; so Sirius ('the scorcher'), Antares ('rival of Ares', i.e., red-hued like Mars), Canopus (of uncertain origin), Alphard ('the solitary one'), Regulus ('kinglet'); and arguably Aldebaran ('the follower' [of the Pleiades]) and Procyon ('preceding the dog' [Sirius]). The same holds for Chinese star names, where most stars are enumerated within their asterisms, with a handful of exceptions such as 織女 ('weaving girl') (Vega). In addition to the limited number of traditional star names, there were some coined in modern times, e.g. "Avior" for Epsilon Carinae (1930), and a number of stars named after people (mostly in the 20th century).
IAU catalog
In 2016, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin, dated July 2016, 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 adopted by the IAU Executive Committee Working Group on the Public Naming of Planets and Planetary Satellites during the 2015 NameExoWorlds campaign and recognized by the WGSN. Further batches of names were approved on 21 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. 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), 1 June 2018 (17), and on 10 August 2018 (6). All 336 names are included in the current List of IAU-approved Star Names. In 2019, the IAU organised its IAU 100 NameExoWorlds campaign to name exoplanets and their host stars. The approved names of 112 exoplanets and their host stars were published on 17 December 2019, with an additional pair of names (for the star HAT-P-21 and its planet) approved on 1 March 2020. An additional two star names were approved on 4 April 2022. In June 2023, an additional 20 names were approved in the NameExoWorlds 2022 campaign, bringing the total to 471 named stars. Since 2024, newly approved names have appeared on the exopla.net website maintained by the WGSN. 19 names were approved in 2024, and 40 in 2025. As of August 2026, 96 additional star names have been approved, bringing the total to 626.
List In the table below, unless indicated by a "†", the "modern proper name" is the name approved by the WGSN and entered in the List of IAU-approved Star Names or otherwise approved by the IAU. The WGSN decided to attribute proper names to individual stars rather than entire multiple-star systems. Names marked with a "†" have not been approved by the IAU. For such names relating to members of multiple-star systems, and where a component letter (from, e.g., the Washington Double Star Catalog) is not explicitly listed, the WGSN says that the name should be understood to be attributed to the visually brightest component. In the "Historical names/comments" column, "NameExoWorlds [year]" denotes that the name was approved by the IAU as a consequence of that year's NameExoWorlds campaign.
See also
Footnotes
References
General references Rhoads, Jack W. (15 November 1971). Technical Memorandum 33-507: A reduced star catalog containing 537 named stars (PDF). Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Report). NASA. NASA-CR-124573. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2018-02-03. Warner, Deborah J. (1979). The Sky Explored: Celestial cartography 1500–1800. Alan R. Liss.
External links SIMBAD (Set of Identifications, Measurements and Bibliography for Astronomical Data) online database Star names and meanings from Frosty Drew Observatory Star names, their meanings, and a list of additional resources Official star names, meanings, and pronunciations on SkyEye Names and etymologies for stars and other objects Table of popular and scientific star names Common name cross index on VizieR
