Over the past few centuries, a small number of stars have been named after individual people. It is common in astronomy for objects to be given names, in accordance with accepted astronomical naming conventions. Most stars have not been given proper names, relying instead on alphanumeric designations in star catalogues. However, a few hundred had either long-standing traditional names (usually from the Arabic) or historic names from frequent usage. In addition, many stars have catalogue designations that contain the name of their compiler or discoverer. This includes Gliese, Wolf, Ross, Bradley, Piazzi, Lacaille, Struve, Groombridge, Lalande, Krueger, Mayer, Weisse, Gould, Luyten and others. For example, Wolf 359 was discovered and catalogued by Max Wolf. Various private organizations claim to name stars in honor of people in exchange for a fee, but these names are used only within their own publications, and are not recognized by the scientific community.

Names approved by the IAU

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is widely recognized by scientists and governments as the world authority for names of astronomical bodies, and lays down strict standards for this naming. In July 2014 the IAU launched NameExoWorlds, a process for giving proper names to exoplanets and their host stars, the outcome of which was announced in December 2015. As a result, the IAU approved two star names after individuals: In 2016, the IAU organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) which will catalog cultural and historical names for bright stars to help preserve astronomical world heritage, and maintain a catalog of IAU-approved unique proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016 set out its terms of reference and naming guidelines. All approved names are included on the current List of IAU-approved Star Names, last updated on 1 June 2018. The WGSN rules generally discouraged the naming of stars after people, but confirmed the names Cervantes and Copernicus as well as four others: In 2019, the IAU held a second NameExoWorlds campaign to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the IAU's founding.

Names not approved by the IAU

Apart from the few formally approved by the IAU, and leaving aside commercial attempts, stars named after individuals fall broadly into two groups. The first group are those named openly for an individual connected with them in some way. The second, somewhat more obscurely, are those named after an individual but without explicitly making this clear.

Openly named stars

There is a growing number of stars whose common names honour individuals. Many of these were highly significant in some way when discovered, usually through having some unusual characteristic. The best source to get these names is Sky Catalogue 2000.0, Volume 2 (Double Stars, Variable Stars, and Nonstellar Objects), in the chapter Glossary Of Selected Astronomical Names. (Note that Pandora's Star and Ratner's Star are the names of novels, not actual stars.)

Covertly named stars

Some stars were given names that were disguised names of individuals, which names subsequently appeared in star catalogues and thus into more general usage. The earliest noted example was Sualocin and Rotanev, which names have now been approved by the IAU WGSN (see above). More recently, during the Apollo program, it was common for astronauts to be trained in celestial navigation, and to use a list of naked-eye stars which to take bearings. As a practical joke, Gus Grissom gave names to three stars on this list, which were references to the three Apollo 1 crew: The names stuck, perhaps in memoriam for their deaths in the Apollo 1 fire, and were used through the rest of the program. Unknown to Grissom, these stars already had traditional names; however, those were not generally used, allowing the three new names to make their way into other records. Today, they are generally considered disused—some sources listing them as "traditional". It is possible, though unlikely, that further traditional names are in fact hidden names such as these, not yet identified; etymologies for many star names are not currently known.

Commercial naming

As early as 1979, when the International Star Registry was formed, private companies have attempted to sell the right to unofficially name stars. These companies have no legal standing to assign any star a name, and as such these names are never recognized by the astronomical or scientific communities. The IAU does not recognize this practice, and on its website describes it as "charlatanry".