It's great that we've found so many extra solar worlds out in space, using different methods and perhaps we will soon find more from Hubble & Spitzer, and future missions like Corot, Kepler, NASA's Terrestrial Planet finder.
A lot of those planets discovered in other Solar systems have wonderful names like, hd179949 , hr1084 , OGLE-TR-132 b, 2M1207b, GJ876c, hd168443b, and PSR B1620-26.

I have perhaps seen attempts on giving these world's more regular names like the Tau-Bootes system, Goldilocks-planet or Upsilon Andromedae b

But what kind of names could be given the rest ?
Should we name them after people
Buzz Aldrin's Planet, the DaVinci world, galileo's planet, Yuri Gagarin's world ?

Use Roman or Greek name, or Gods and mythical names like Triton, Rhea....

Or could we use Sci-fi names from Arthur C Clark books, Star Wars films and TV shows ? There are many names in sci-fi fantasty :
Krypton, Persephone, Mongo, Arrakis, Tatooine, Klandathu, Asgard, Caprica, Vulcan-world, Thalassa, Z'ha'dum, Minbar, Zenn-La, Skrull-World, Giedi Prime, Metaluna, Drak, Solaris, Sebecean, Romulus....

if we are to give the planets names, then what kind of names should they be given ?

Maybe we should just leave the naming to the team that discovers them and wait for future missions so we can get a clearer picture of these worlds ?

Already taken. :wink:

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I think we should ask the current residents what they call their planet, and try our best to form the name within the capabilities of human speech.

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Yeah I googled and found their phone number, if you want it. However, the long distance charges are incredibly expensive......

One has been given a name. The one that was identified as being 12 billion years old has been tagged "Methuselah".

I suppose its going to eventually take off.

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Arrakis = Mu Draconis

Actually, a few have got nicknames in various press releases:
* 51 Pegasi b = Bellerophon
* 70 Virginis b = Goldilocks
* Tau Boötis b = Millennium Planet
* HD 209458 b = Osiris
* PSR B1620-26 C = Methuselah

I think it's unlikely. These names are not used much anywhere. There will be soon so many planets that naming them would be impractical. Only a very interesting planet, like an Earth analogue, would probably receive a name.

If memory serves me correct then planet Bellerophon was featured in Joss Wendon's Firefly, it may not have been shown as it truely is because I recall it being a giant Oceanic-world in this TV show & may be much different to the real 51-Pegasi planet

Its an older reference than that. Bellerophon was the name of the colony ship that was lost on Altair IV in "Forbidden Planet". I imagine its even older than that, though.

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The last time I felt a warm fuzzy feeling, I was informed by my doctor that it was just gas.

The reference to Bellerophon is older than that... Bellerophon was a greek hero who rode Pegasus, the flying horse. More information about the greek myth

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A recent Nova included an interview with the astronomer who discoverd the first 3-planet exosolar system. After the public announcement, she received a letter from a 4th grade class who asked the same question about planet names, and had suggestions for the new system. Two were gas giants, twice and three times the mass of Jupiter, and the third was small and orbited close to its sun. So they came up with these names: "Twopiter", "Threepiter", and... "Dinky".

A bit hard to generalize, but I like them. =D>

I don't care for the "Dinky" one, but I like the other two. :P

I think we can start naming them when we have clear, unambiguous images of said planet. If the star only has a number then we should give it a name. Naming conventions might follow Egyptian names. I think That would be appropriate.

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You could always auction off naming rights :P

Just think of it - in a millenium a ship might be heading to colonise McDonalds orbiting the Red Bull system in the Adidas cluster

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the solar system

I suggest a means by which you could map fractal calculations based upon the co-ordinates of the system could be mapped onto a phonetic system.

besides if you did call it the McDonald system , there might turn out to be a vegan society living on one of the Gas Giant's moons, and that wouldn't be a very good start.

Personally, I'd like to see naming conventions similar to those given to asteroids, but perhaps with a bit more strict guidelines. Of course, who decides what name might be frivolous, and what name would be acceptable? there's the rub.... **chuckles**

...John...

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Why not just name the star and number the planets? Earth would be Sol-3 and Luna would be Sol-3.1

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J Pax

The only problem with that is, until we reach the technology level that allows for a full census of planets in any given system, we don't know which planets are what numbers. In the 55 Cancri system, I would have bet that we had found the first planet in that system already. And then came along the Neptune-sized world.....

...John...

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"There is a technical, literary term for those who mistake the opinions and beliefs of characters in a novel for those of the author. The term is 'idiot'."
-- Larry Niven