Name A Star Explained: What Does It Actually Mean?

Is ‘Name a Star’ even real?

This is a question we often get from our customers about 'Name A Star'. And we completely understand the scepticism. We’ve also come across articles singling this service of Oye Happy as unauthentic and fake. As the Co-founder of Oye Happy who started this online gifting company from his living room, this is an honest attempt to clear the air about this product and I hope to be as transparent as possible.

How does Name a Star actually work

This service was introduced with the creation of a ‘Star Dedication Archive.’ It is but a database of all the recognized stars in our solar system along with their coordinates. Once a star is booked by a customer, the database acknowledges that booking gives that star a specific name and generates a certificate for the same. Anyone with access to that certificate can simply access the database, enter their registration number and find the star that they’ve booked. This ensures that no other customer can book the same star. That archive is shared by multiple star booking agencies from across the world so that no matter which agency or company you buy the star from, the database remains the same.

Does NASA recognise this service and does the new name reflect on NASA’s database?

No. It’s a parallel eco-system designed just for the purpose of gifting. And here are a few disclaimers that Oye Happy clearly mentions on its product page – Name a Star – that is hidden by most companies offering the same service.

We never mention either NASA or IAU (International Astronomical Union) anywhere on the website or the certificate to mislead the customers. Our partner, GiftYourStar, doesn’t mention them either and it has been personally vetted by me.

The fact that it’s a gifting service without any legal ownership of the star is clearly mentioned on the partner site.

We are the only ones who actually mention the partner’s name on our site to ensure complete transparency. Customers are free to book from the website directly too and download an e-certificate.

Proprietary software is used to generate authentic maps and coordinates that we print in the form of location chart and an authentication certificate. Mocks-ups or designing tools are not used for this purpose.

This service has been designed specifically for the gifting eco-system. Hundreds of thousands of stars have been named within the archive and it has created as many smiles across the world. Whether you choose to avail this service from Oye Happy or from any other provider, it is the closest you can get to naming a star after someone. The only other way is to become an astronomer, discover a new star and give it a name.

If you'd like to see the product on our website, click here: Name a Star