Celestial Names: Some heavenly baby name choices

Celestial Names: Some heavenly baby name choices

So you’ve scoured the Earth and still haven’t come up with the perfect name for your baby.  Maybe it’s time to look skyward to broaden your horizons.  There’s a whole galaxy of interesting and evocative celestial names to choose from, including those of planets and their satellites, constellations and single stars.  These range from simple human names like Faye and Helene to those carrying the romantic resonance of Greek and Roman myth.

Check out our list of celestial names and, for even more ideas, have a look at our Angel Names and Space Names.

First, some names of planets and their satellites:

AMALTHEA

ARAGO

ARIEL

ATLAS

BIANCA

CALLISTO—the second largest satellite of Jupiter, discovered by Galileo

CALYPSO

CORDELIA

CRESSIDA

DESDEMONA

DESPINA

DIONE

ELARA

GALATEA

HELENE

IO

JULIET

JUPITER –the largest planet in the solar system

LARISSA

LEDA

MARS

MERCURY

MIRANDA

OBERON

OPHELIA

PANDORA

PHOEBE

PORTIA

ROSALIND

THALASSA

THEBE

TITANIA

VENUS –the most brilliant planet in the solar system

Next, some of the constellations:

ANDROMEDA

ANTILA

AQUILA

ARA

AURIGA

ARIES

CAELUM

CARINA

CASSIOPEIA

COLUMBA

CORVUS

DORADO

DRACO

LACERTA

LEO

LIBRA

LYRA

NORMA

ORION

PAVO

PERSEUS

PHOENIX

TUCAN

VELA

And some of the most namesake-worthy individual stars:

ALPHAAlpha Lyra is a white star in the constellation Lyra

ALTAIR

ATRIA

BELLATRIX

CAPELLA

CASTOR

HAMAL

MIMOSA

MIRA

NOVA—a star that suddenly increases in brilliance then gradually fades

RIGEL – the brightest star in Orion

SHAULA

SIRIUS – the brightest star in the heavens

VEGA – a blue-white star of the first magnitude

And finally, though they might not appear in the sky anywhere from six to a million years, here are some recurring comets:

DONATI

FAYE

FINLAY

HALLEY

HOLMES

MONTANI

WEST

WOLF

And also:

AURORA—the name of the shimmering displays of light that occur in the far northern and southern skies.

About the Author

Linda Rosenkrantz

Linda Rosenkrantz

Linda Rosenkrantz is the co-founder of Nameberry, and co-author with Pamela Redmond of the ten baby naming books acknowledged to have revolutionized American baby naming. You can follow her personally at InstagramTwitter and Facebook. She is also the author of the highly acclaimed New York Review Books Classics novel Talk and a number of other books.