A good star name either sounds like a real catalogue entry, like Theta Thessarae, or like a legend someone told by firelight, like The Huntsman's Forge. Need a sun for your star system or a guiding star for your fantasy sky? This star name generator makes up invented sci-fi stars, survey catalogue designations, mythic stars and poetic names, with a short description if you want one.
Eight good star names
All eight came from the generator, across its four styles:
- Zanessa Alpha: a coined name with a Greek letter, the way the brightest star in a group is labelled.
- Kaminski's Star: named after whoever found it, like a real astronomer's star.
- Orveon Iota, a pulsar whose ticking guides navigators across the sector: a sci-fi star with a job in the story.
- Theta Thessarae: built like a real Bayer designation: a Greek letter and a Latin-sounding constellation.
- UXT 19147 A: a catalogue number with a letter, the first star of a multiple system.
- The Huntsman's Forge: a mythic star that sounds like part of an old constellation.
- Oduvan's Heart: a legend's name, short enough for sailors to steer by.
- The Candle of Homecoming: a poetic name for the star someone looks for on the way home.
How real stars are named
- Bayer designations. In 1603 Johann Bayer labelled the stars in each constellation with Greek letters, usually brightest first, followed by the constellation's name in Latin: Alpha Centauri, Beta Orionis. The generator's catalogue style follows the same pattern with invented constellations: Delta Nalorae.
- Old names. Many bright stars keep names that came into English from Arabic. Aldebaran means "the follower", because it follows the Pleiades across the sky, and Altair comes from a phrase meaning "the flying eagle".
- Catalogue numbers. Most stars only have numbers, like HD numbers from the Henry Draper Catalogue or Gliese numbers for nearby stars.
- Star systems. A system takes its name from its main star. In a multiple system each star gets a capital letter (Alpha Centauri A and B), and planets get lower-case letters starting at b: 51 Pegasi b was the first planet found orbiting a Sun-like star.
The International Astronomical Union approves official names. Everything here is invented, so it won't clash with a real star. Choose Sci-fi for coined names and discoverers' stars, Fantasy/myth for stars from legend, Catalogue for codes like Sable-93a, and Poetic for names like The Patient Candle. Add With a description for a line about what the star is, or what it means to the people below.
Naming a star system
- Name the star first, then give its planets the star's name plus a letter, or names of their own.
- Use two names for important stars: a catalogue code for the navigators and an old name for everyone else.
- Binary stars make good settings. Two suns means two sunsets, and maybe nights that never get properly dark.
Name the worlds in the system with the Planet and Moon name generators, the galaxy with the Galaxy Name Generator, and whoever lives there with the Alien Name Generator. To get there, try the Spaceship Name Generator.
For more, see all the sci-fi name generators.