How does the planet name generator work?
Four steps, then a name your star chart can hold. Set a quantity if you want a system's worth. Press Generate. Read the receipt: each chip is one morpheme with its meaning, and tapping a chip swaps only that part, so you can keep a root and try every ending against it. Keep what fits; the shelf holds your system.
Is it free, and is it real? Free, no signup, and honest about what is real. The naming convention and every rule quoted on this page are the IAU's real ones. The generated names are Latinate builds in that tradition, labeled as builds. The full curated set lives on the planet names page.
How do planet names work?
Uranus = Ouranos, the Greek sky god. That pattern is the whole convention. Real planets are not described, they are invoked: gods, not weather. The five planets visible without a telescope carry Roman god names fixed since antiquity: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. When a new one appeared in 1781, the astronomer Johann Bode proposed a Greek father-god, Uranus, and it stuck.
The Latin roots in this generator follow the same register. Terra is simply Latin for earth, the real name of our own world. Noct, sol, glac, umbra: each root is a real Latin stem, and each ending is a real Latinate form. The combinations are ours, built to sound like nomenclature rather than like noise. For the wider craft, the how to name a character guide carries the framework, including its worldbuilding layer.
What is a good planet name?
A good planet name sounds invoked, not described. Here is what planet names mean, part by part: ten names, each with its build and its tradition. The first seven are generator outputs. The last three are real IAU-named bodies, labeled with their receipts.
Planet names with their builds, meanings and traditions| Name | Built from | Meaning | Tradition |
|---|
| Noctia | noct + ia | place of night | Latin root + place ending (build; IAU tradition cited) |
| Glacia | glac + ia | place of ice | Latin root + place ending (build; IAU tradition cited) |
| Solis | sol + is | of the sun (a real Latin genitive) | Latin root + third-declension form (root documented) |
| Umbra | umbr + a | shadow, the dark companion | Latin root + first-declension ending (real Latin word) |
| Aurora | aur + ora | the golden dawn | Latin root + ending (real Latin word) |
| Pelagia | pelag + ia | place of the open sea | Latin root + place ending (build; IAU tradition cited) |
| Nivon | niv + on | the snowy one, Greek-flavored | Latin root + Greek myth ending (build, labeled) |
| Uranus | Ouranos | the Greek sky god | IAU-named planet (proposed by Johann Bode, 1781 era) |
| Terra | terra | earth, the real Latin name of our world | Real Latin word (not IAU official, but the traditional name) |
| Pluto | Pluton | the Roman underworld god | IAU-named dwarf planet (named by Venetia Burney, age 11, in 1930) |
See the full list with meanings on the planet names page.
How do planet names differ across body types?
Every size of body has its own naming lane, and the IAU keeps them apart. Planets get gods. Moons get figures tied to the parent god's myth. Minor planets get nearly anything the discoverer proposes. Surface features get themed sets per world. Pick your body type before you pick your name.
IAU naming lanes by body type| Attribute | Planets | Moons | Minor planets | Surface features |
|---|
| Named from | mythology, by tradition | the parent planet's myth | the discoverer's proposal | per-world themed sets |
| Approval | IAU retains tradition | IAU Working Group approves | citation published by the IAU group | IAU Working Group approves |
| Real receipts | Mercury to Neptune | Io, Titania, Triton | named asteroids | Mercury craters after artists |
| Reads as | a god's name | a figure in the god's story | a person, place, or joke | a curated catalog |
The real naming receipts
How each real planet got its name, documented. These six receipts are the spine of the convention:
Real planet namings and their receipts| Planet | Named for | Receipt |
|---|
| Mercury | the Roman messenger god | fixed by antiquity, speediest god for the speediest planet |
| Venus | the Roman goddess of love | fixed by antiquity, brightest light in the sky |
| Jupiter | the Roman king of the gods | fixed by antiquity, largest body after the Sun and Moon |
| Uranus | the Greek sky god | proposed by astronomer Johann Bode after the 1781 discovery |
| Neptune | the Roman sea god | adopted by consensus after the 1846 mathematical prediction |
| Pluto | the Roman underworld god | proposed in 1930 by Venetia Burney, aged eleven, of Oxford |
The actual IAU rules
This is the citable asset: nomenclature for planets, moons, and everything smaller, as the International Astronomical Union actually runs it. The IAU has been the recognized naming authority since 1919, through its Planetary System Nomenclature working group. The rules: planets follow the mythology tradition, the visible five set in Roman antiquity and Uranus added from Greek myth on Bode's proposal. Moons are named by their discoverers, subject to IAU approval, with a mythological theme per parent planet, and the themes are strict: Jupiter's moons take the loves and descendants of Zeus, Saturn's take Titans and giants, Uranus's take Shakespeare and Pope characters, Neptune's take sea deities. Minor planets take whatever the discoverer proposes, as long as it is not commercial or offensive, and the citation is published. Surface features follow per-world themes: craters on Mercury honor artists, features on Venus honor goddesses and notable women, small Martian craters take names of small towns. Every rule in this paragraph is checkable against the IAU's published nomenclature guidelines.
IAU naming rules by body class| Body class | Who proposes | Rule and receipt |
|---|
| Planets | tradition and discoverers | mythology: Roman gods for the visible five, Uranus from Greek myth |
| Moons | the discoverer | IAU approval, themed per parent: Zeus's loves at Jupiter, Shakespeare at Uranus |
| Dwarf planets | the discovery team | creation and myth figures: Pluto by Venetia Burney, Makemake the Rapa Nui god |
| Minor planets | the discoverer | near-free choice, non-commercial; citation published by the IAU group |
| Surface features | the mapping team | per-world themes: artists on Mercury, women on Venus, towns on Mars |
Planet names vs island names
Islands get descriptions; planets get invocations. An island is named for what a boat sees: seals, fog, crags. A planet is named for a power beyond seeing: gods, Titans, the sky father. The register gap is the craft lesson, and it holds even inside fiction.
Planet naming compared with island naming| Attribute | Planet names | Island names |
|---|
| Named from | mythology and Latin stems | geography and explorer conventions |
| Pattern | root + Latinate ending | sight root + island suffix |
| Real receipts | Uranus, Neptune, Pluto | Orkney, New Caledonia |
| Reads as | an invocation | a chart entry |
Charting waters instead of orbits? The island name generator carries the coastal system.
Named by whom?
The naming acts are receipts too, and some are famous. An eleven-year-old named Pluto. A goddess of discord named Eris, after the argument it caused. A Rapa Nui god named Makemake because the discovery fell near Easter:
Documented naming acts and their stories| Body | Named by | Receipt |
|---|
| Pluto | Venetia Burney, age 11 | Oxford schoolgirl, 1930; the name reached Lowell Observatory through her grandfather |
| Eris | the discovery team | the goddess of discord, for the dispute over Pluto's status |
| Makemake | the discovery team | the Rapa Nui creator god, found just after Easter |
| Titania, Oberon | the discoverer Herschel's son, John | Shakespeare characters, setting Uranus's theme |
| Phobos, Deimos | Asaph Hall, 1877 | fear and dread, the war-god's attendants in the Iliad |
Planet name generator questions, answered
What should I name my planet?
The generator answers that in one press. It draws one Latin root and one Latinate ending, then shows the receipt. Noctia is "place of night": noct (night) + ia (the place ending). Real planets went to mythology instead; the IAU keeps that tradition, and the roots here keep the same gravitas.
Is the generator accurate to real planetary naming?
The convention is the real one; the roots are honestly ours. Real planets and moons are named from mythology under IAU rules: Jupiter's moons after Zeus's loves, Uranus's moons after Shakespeare. This generator builds Latinate names in that tradition and labels them as builds, not as real Latin words.
Can I generate planet names in bulk?
Yes. The quantity control draws up to ten at a time, each with its own receipt. The curated set lives on the planet names page, over a hundred and fifty builds plus every planet and the famous moons with their mythology receipts.
How are planets named in real life?
By the International Astronomical Union, following a mythology tradition. The five visible planets carry Roman god names fixed by antiquity. Uranus was proposed by the astronomer Johann Bode from Greek myth. Moons are named by their discoverers, subject to IAU approval, each parent planet holding a theme. Pluto was named in 1930 by an eleven-year-old Oxford girl, Venetia Burney, and the IAU's group approved it.
Where this data comes from. The naming rules on this page follow the International Astronomical Union's published nomenclature guidelines, and every body cited (Uranus, Pluto, Eris, Titania) is real with its naming history documented. Generated names are Latinate builds, labeled as builds. Where every name's receipt comes from →