100 Star Names: Names of Stars, Meanings & Maps

Star names and meanings

Star names such as Sirius, Vega and Polaris are proper names for individual stars. Many familiar names preserve Arabic, Greek or Latin descriptions of a star's position in an older sky figure. Astronomers also use systematic designations—including Bayer letters such as Alpha Centauri, Flamsteed numbers and identifiers from modern catalogues—because the same object can have several historical names. Each guide pairs the familiar name and its meaning with the astronomical designation so you can recognise both.

This list of names of stars includes nearby stars, multiple systems, rapidly rotating stars, giants and supergiants, pulsating variables, stars with debris discs and familiar waypoints such as the Summer and Winter Triangles. Brightness is only one reason a star belongs here: some are important to navigation, some reveal unusual physics, and others have shaped sky traditions for centuries.

How to browse the names of stars

Search by a proper star name, catalogue designation or constellation. You can also filter by sky region and broad stellar colour, isolate multiple-star systems, or sort the list from the brightest apparent magnitude. The colour groups are based on spectral class; they describe stellar temperature rather than the colour a camera will always record.

The magnitude shown here is apparent visual magnitude: how bright the object appears from Earth in visible light. Lower values mean brighter objects, and negative values are brighter still. Distances are rounded because astronomical measurements and models continue to improve, particularly for remote supergiants and unresolved multiple systems.

How the guides were researched

Coordinates, classifications and object identities are checked against the CDS SIMBAD astronomical database. Proper-name usage follows the International Astronomical Union. Scientific discoveries and imagery are linked to the responsible observatory or agency on each guide. Survey thumbnails show the actual sky field around the listed coordinates rather than an invented illustration.

The 100 star names are a curated learning collection rather than a claim to list every named star. The selection is deliberately broader than a brightness ranking: it includes navigation stars, famous doubles and variables, nearby red dwarfs, exoplanet hosts, supergiants and stars that anchor familiar asterisms. Measurements are rounded for readability, and uncertain values are labelled instead of presented as false precision.

Continue exploring the night sky

Place each star in its larger pattern with the constellation directory, then find somewhere to observe through our guides to dark-sky places and observatories. These are established astronomical names; if you want to create a personal dedication instead, learn how to buy a star-naming gift or search an existing dedication in the Star-Register catalogue.