Why your purchased star name is actually just a string of numbers
You might have paid a company to name a star after a loved one, but to the scientific community, that name doesn't exist. While some stars carry ancient titles, the vast majority of the night sky is identified by a cold, mathematical language of coordinates.
The night sky is a mix of romantic tradition and rigid cataloging. Some stars possess ancient names derived from Greek, Latin, or Arabic, such as Vega or Aldebaran. Others are named in honor of significant figures, like Barnard’s star, which was named after its discoverer. However, these are the exceptions rather than the rule.
The true authority on celestial nomenclature is the International Astronomical Union (IAU), founded in 1919. The IAU maintains the official designations for stars and other astronomical objects. Because there are hundreds of millions of stars, most do not have proper names. Instead, they are assigned alphanumeric designations in massive databases like the Gliese catalog or the Guide Star Catalog, which contains approximately 945 million entries. These strings of letters and numbers function less like names and more like celestial addresses, allowing astronomers to pinpoint a star's specific position in the heavens.
This distinction is why commercial star-naming services are not recognized by astronomers. While these companies maintain their own databases, their names are not legally binding and are ignored by the scientific community. The IAU has even issued statements disavowing any connection to these services and warning the public against purchasing 'extraterrestrial real estate,' such as lunar suburbs. While you cannot buy a name, the IAU does allow for public naming campaigns under specific rules established in their 2013 guidelines. To be considered, a proposed name should ideally be a single, non-offensive word of 16 letters or fewer.
Source: Can You Really Name A Star?
