Thenaming of moons has been the responsibility of theInternational Astronomical Union's committee for Planetary System Nomenclature since 1973. That committee is known today as theWorking Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN).
Prior to its formation, the names ofsatellites have had varying histories. The choice of names is often determined by a satellite's discoverer; however, historically some satellites were not given names for many years after their discovery; for instance,Titan was discovered byHuygens in 1655, but was not named until 1847, almost two centuries later.
Before the IAU assumed responsibility for astronomical nomenclature, only twenty-five satellites had been given names that were in wide use and are still used: 1 of Earth, 2 of Mars, 5 of Jupiter, 10 of Saturn, 5 of Uranus, and 2 of Neptune.[1] Since then, names have been given to 150 additional planetary and dwarf planetary satellites: 52 satellites ofJupiter, 53 ofSaturn, 22 ofUranus, 12 ofNeptune, 5 ofPluto, 2 ofHaumea, and 1 each ofEris,Gonggong,Quaoar, andOrcus. Names have also been given to some satellites of minor planets, including the dwarf planet candidatesSalacia andVarda which have one satellite each. The number will continue to rise as current satellite discoveries are documented and new satellites are discovered.
At the IAU General Assembly in July 2004,[2] the WGPSN suggested it may become advisable to not name small satellites, asCCD technology makes it possible to discover satellites as small as 1 km in diameter. Until 2014, names were applied to all planetary moons discovered, regardless of size. From 2015, some small moons have not received names.
Every human language has its own word for the Earth'sMoon, and these words are the ones normally used in astronomical contexts. However, a number of fanciful or mythological names for the Moon have been used in the context of astronomy (an even larger number of lunar epithets have been used in non-astronomical contexts). In the 17th century, the Moon was sometimes referred to asProserpina. More recently, especially in science-fiction content, the Moon has been calledEarth I, analogue to the numberingof Jovian moonswith roman numbers, or by theLatin nameLuna, presumably on the analogy of the Latin names of the planets, or by association with the adjectival formlunar, or a need to differentiate it from other moons that may be present in a fictional setting; however, in several Romance languages, such as Spanish, the word "luna" is often used to refer to any natural satellite in the same way as "moon" in English, which is problematic.
In technical terminology, the word-stemsseleno- (fromGreekselēnē "moon") andcynthi- (fromCynthia, an epithet of the goddessArtemis orDiana) are sometimes used to refer to the Moon, as inselenography,selenology, andpericynthion.
The moons ofMars (Phobos andDeimos) were named byAsaph Hall in 1878, soon after he discovered them. They are named after the sons of the godAres (the Greek equivalent of the Roman godMars).
TheGalilean moons of Jupiter (Io,Europa,Ganymede andCallisto) were named bySimon Marius soon after their discovery in 1610. However, by the late 19th century these names had fallen out of favor, and for a long time it was most common to refer to them in the astronomical literature simply as "Jupiter I", "Jupiter II", etc., or as "the first satellite of Jupiter", "Jupiter's second satellite", etc.
By the first decade of the 20th century, the names Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto had once again recovered popularity, but the later-discovered moons, numbered, usually in Roman numerals V (5) through XII (12), remained unnamed.[3][dubious –discuss] By a popular though unofficial convention,[citation needed] Jupiter V, discovered in 1892, was given the nameAmalthea,[4] first used by the French astronomerCamille Flammarion.[5]
The otherirregular satellites (discovered 1904 to 1951) were, in the overwhelming majority of astronomical literature, simply left nameless. No names were proposed untilBrian G. Marsden suggested a nomenclature for these satellites in 1955.[6] Although the 1955 names met with immediate acceptance in some quarters (e.g. in science fiction[7] and popular science articles[8]), they were still rarely if ever met in astronomical literature until the 1970s.[9]
Two other proposals for naming the satellites were made between 1955 and 1975, both by Soviet astronomers, E. I. Nesterovich (in 1962) and Yu. A. Karpenko (in 1973).[10][11] These met no particularly enthusiastic reception.
In 1975, followingCharles Kowal's discovery of the satellite Jupiter XIII in 1974, theIAU Task Group for Outer Solar System Nomenclature granted names to satellites V-XIII, and provided for a formal naming process for future satellites to be discovered. Under the new process, Jupiter V continued asAmalthea, Jupiter XIII was namedLeda in accordance with a suggestion of Kowal's, and all previous proposals for the seven satellites VI-XII were abandoned in favor of new names, in accordance with a scheme suggested by the German philologistJürgen Blunck whereprograde moons received names ending in 'a' andretrograde moons received names ending in 'e'.[12]
The new names met considerable protest from some quarters. Kowal, despite suggesting a name for Jupiter XIII, was of the opinion that Jupiter's irregular satellites should not be named at all.[13]Carl Sagan noted that the names chosen were extraordinarily obscure (a fact thatTobias Owen, chair of the Task Group, admitted was intentional in a response to Sagan[10]) and suggested his own names in 1976;[14] these preserved some of the names from the 1955 proposal. Karpenko had noted the same in his 1981 book "The Names of the Starry Sky", along with stating that the names chosen for retrograde moons, and therefore the "e" ending, were not always the ones for which it was the more common one.[15]
The proposals are summarized in the table below (data fromIcarus unless specified otherwise[10][14]):
| Number | 1955 Proposal Brian Marsden[6] | 1962 Proposal E. I. Nesterovich[16] | 1973 Proposal Yu. A. Karpenko[11] | 1975 Proposal IAU Committee[10] | 1976 Proposal Carl Sagan[14] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jupiter VI | Hestia | Atlas | Adrastea | Himalia | Maia |
| Jupiter VII | Hera | Hercules | Danae | Elara | Hera |
| Jupiter VIII | Poseidon | Persephone | Helen | Pasiphae | Alcmene |
| Jupiter IX | Hades | Cerberus | Ida | Sinope | Leto |
| Jupiter X | Demeter | Prometheus | Latona | Lysithea | Demeter |
| Jupiter XI | Pan | Dedalus | Leda | Carme | Semele |
| Jupiter XII | Adrastea | Hephaestus | Semele | Ananke | Danae |
Current practice is that newly discovered moons of Jupiter must be named after lovers or descendants of the mythologicalJupiter (Zeus). Blunck's scheme for the outer moons was retained, with the addition that names ending in 'o' could also be used for prograde moons. At the IAU General Assembly in July 2004,[2] the WGPSN allowed Jovian satellites to be named forZeus' descendants in addition to his lovers and favorites which were the previous source of names, due to the large number of new Jovian satellites that had then recently been discovered. All of Jupiter's satellites from XXXIV (Euporie) on were named for descendants of Zeus, until Jupiter LIII (Dia), named after another one of his lovers.
In 1847, the seven then known moons ofSaturn were named byJohn Herschel. Herschel named Saturn's two innermost moons (Mimas and Enceladus) after the mythological GreekGiants, and the outer five after theTitans (Titan, Iapetus) and Titanesses (Tethys, Dione, Rhea) of the same mythology. Until then,Titan was known as the "Huygenian (or Huyghenian) satellite of Saturn" and the other moons had Roman numeral designations in order of their distance from Saturn. Subsequent discoverers of Saturnian moons followed Herschel's scheme:Hyperion was discovered soon after in 1848, and the ninth moon,Phoebe, was named by its discoverer in 1899 soon after its discovery; they were named for a Titan and a Titaness respectively. The name ofJanus was suggested by its discoverer,Audouin Dollfus.
Current IAU practice for newly discovered inner moons is to continue with Herschel's system, naming them after Titans or their descendants. However, the increasing number of moons that were being discovered in the 21st century caused the IAU to draw up a new scheme for the outer moons. At the IAU General Assembly in July 2004,[2] the WGPSN allowed satellites of Saturn to have names of giants and monsters in mythologies other than the Greco-Roman. Since the outer moons fall naturally into three groups, one group is named afterNorse giants, one afterGallic giants, and one afterInuit giants. The only moon that fails to fit this scheme is the Greek-named Phoebe, which is in the Norse group.
The Roman numbering scheme ofUranus' moons was in a state of flux for a considerable time. Sir William Herschel thought he had discovered up to six moons and maybe even a ring. For nearly fifty years, Herschel's instrument was the only one the moons had been seen with.[17] In the 1840s, better instruments and a more favourable position of Uranus in the sky led to sporadic indications of satellites additional to Titania and Oberon. Publications hesitated between William Herschel's designations (where Titania and Oberon are Uranus II and IV) and William Lassell's (where they are sometimes I and II).[18] With the confirmation of Ariel and Umbriel, Lassell numbered the moons I through IV from Uranus outward, and this finally stuck.[19]
The first two Uranian moons, discovered in 1787, did not receive names until 1852, a year after two more moons had been discovered. The responsibility for naming was taken byJohn Herschel, son of the discoverer of Uranus. Herschel, instead of assigning names fromGreek mythology, named the moons after magical spirits inEnglish literature: the fairiesOberon andTitania fromWilliam Shakespeare'sA Midsummer Night's Dream, and the sylphs Ariel and Umbriel fromAlexander Pope'sThe Rape of the Lock (Ariel is also a sprite in Shakespeare'sThe Tempest). The reasoning was presumably that Uranus, as god of the sky and air, would be attended by spirits of the air.
Subsequent names, rather than continuing the "airy spirits" theme (onlyPuck andMab continuing the trend), have focused on Herschel's source material. In 1949, the fifth moon,Miranda, was named by its discoverer,Gerard Kuiper, after a thoroughly mortal character in Shakespeare'sThe Tempest. Current IAU practice is to name moons after characters from Shakespeare's plays andThe Rape of the Lock (although at present only Ariel, Umbriel, and Belinda have names drawn from the latter poem, all the rest being from Shakespeare). All the retrograde irregular moons are named after characters from one play,The Tempest; the only prograde irregular moon,Margaret, is named fromMuch Ado About Nothing.
The one known moon (at the time) ofNeptune was not named for many decades. Although the nameTriton was suggested in 1880 byCamille Flammarion, it did not come into general use until the mid 20th-century, and for many years was considered "unofficial". In the astronomical literature it was simply referred to as "the satellite of Neptune". Later, the second known moon,Nereid, was named by its discoverer in 1949,Gerard P. Kuiper, soon after its discovery.
Current IAU practice for newly discovered Neptunian moons is to accord with these first two choices by naming them after Greek sea deities.
For the "normal" irregular satellites, the general convention is to use names ending in "a" for prograde satellites, names ending in "e" for retrograde satellites, and names ending in "o" for exceptionally inclined satellites, exactly like the convention for themoons of Jupiter.[20]
The name ofPluto's moonCharon was suggested byJames W. Christy, its discoverer, soon after its discovery.
The other four moons are namedHydra,Nix,Kerberos, andStyx.
Charon, Hydra, Nix, and Kerberos are all characters in Greek mythology, with ties to Hades (the Greek equivalent of Pluto).Charon ferries the dead across the River Acheron,Hydra guards the waters of the underworld, Nix (a respelling ofNyx) is the mother of Charon and the goddess of darkness and the night, and Kerberos (a respelling ofCerberus) is a giant three-headed dog who guards the entrance to the underworld. The fifth moon is named for the riverStyx that forms the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead.
The name ofEris's moonDysnomia was suggested by its discovererMichael E. Brown, who also suggested the name of the dwarf planet. The name has two meanings: in mythologyDysnomia (lawlessness) is the daughter ofEris (chaos). However, the name is also an intentional reference to the actorLucy Lawless who plays the characterXena. The background for this is that during the long period when Eris had no formal name, the name 'Xena' – originally Brown's nickname for his discovery – spread and became popular. When the name 'Eris' was chosen, Brown suggested Dysnomia (which until then had been referred to asGabrielle) as a reference to this.[22] Hence, Dysnomia is the only moon which could be said to be named after an actor. The names Eris and Dysnomia were accepted by the IAU on 14 September 2006.
The name ofHaumea and itsmoons were suggested byDavid L. Rabinowitz ofCaltech and refer to the mother goddess and her daughters inHawaiian mythology.
When the discoverers of Gonggong proposed choices for a public vote on its name, they chose figures that had associates that could provide a name for the satellite.[23] Xiangliu's name was chosen by its discovery team led by Csaba Kiss. The name refers to thevenomous nine-headed snake monster and minister ofGonggong who brings floods and destruction inChinese mythology.[24]
Quaoar was named after the creator god of theTongva tribe. Brown, who had co-discovered both Quaoar and its moon, left the name of the moon up to the Tongva. The Tongva chose the sky godWeywot, son of Quaoar.[25]
On 23 March 2009, Brown asked readers of his weekly column to suggest possible names for the satellite of Orcus which he had codiscovered, with the best one to be submitted to theInternational Astronomical Union (IAU) on 5 April.[26] The nameVanth, the wingedEtruscanpsychopomp who guides the souls of the dead to the underworld, was chosen from among a large pool of submissions. Vanth was the only suggestion that was purely Etruscan in origin. It was the most popular submission, first suggested bySonya Taaffe.[27]
The Etruscan Vanth is frequently portrayed in the company ofCharun (Charon), and so as the name of the moon of Orcus (nicknamed the "anti-Pluto" because resonance with Neptune keeps it on the opposite side of the Sun from Pluto), it is an allusion to the parallels between Orcus andPluto. Brown quoted Taaffe as saying that if Vanth "accompanies dead souls from the moment of death to the underworld itself, then of course her face is turned always toward Orcus", a reference to the likely synchronous orbit of Vanth about Orcus.[27]
Unlike the planets and dwarf planets, relatively few moons orbiting asteroids have been named. Among them are the following:
| Name of moon | Name of primary | Roman numeral |
|---|---|---|
| Dactyl | 243 Ida | I |
| Echidna | 42355 Typhon | I |
| Linus | 22 Kalliope | I |
| Menoetius | 617 Patroclus | I |
| Petit-Prince | 45 Eugenia | I |
| Phorcys | 65489 Ceto | I |
| Remus | 87 Sylvia | II |
| Romulus | 87 Sylvia | I |
| Sawiskera | 88611 Teharonhiawako | I |
| Zoe | 58534 Logos | I |
The Roman numbering system for satellites arose with the very first discovery of natural satellites other than Earth's Moon:Galileo referred to theGalilean moons asI throughIV (counting from Jupiter outward), refusing to adopt the names proposed by his rivalSimon Marius. Similar numbering schemes naturally arose with the discovery of multiple moons around Saturn, Uranus, and Mars. The numbers initially designated the moons in orbital sequence, and were re-numbered after each new discovery; for instance, before the discovery of Mimas and Enceladus in 1789, Tethys was Saturn I, Dione Saturn II, etc.,[28] but after the new moons were discovered, Mimas became Saturn I, Enceladus Saturn II, Tethys Saturn III and Dione Saturn IV.
In the middle of the 19th century, however, the numeration became fixed, and later discoveries failed to conform with the orbital sequence scheme.Amalthea, discovered in 1892, was labelled "Jupiter V" although it orbits more closely to Jupiter than doesIo (Jupiter I). The unstated convention then became, at the close of the 19th century, that the numbers more or less reflected the order of discovery, except for prior historical exceptions (seeTimeline of discovery of Solar System planets and their natural satellites); though if a large number of satellites were discovered in a short span of time, the group could be numbered in orbital sequence, or according to other principles than strictly by order of discovery. The convention has been extended to natural satellites of minor planets, such as(87) Sylvia I Romulus. The outer irregular satellites of Jupiter (VI through XII) were left officially unnamed throughout this period, although as stated above some unofficial names were used in some contexts.
From 1975 to 2009, theInternational Astronomical Union was assigning names to all planetary satellites, and Roman numerals were usually not assigned to satellites until they are named. (An exception is Saturn's moonHelene, which received the Roman numeral XII in 1982, but was not named until 1988.) During this period, the use of Roman numeral designations diminished, and some are very rarely used;Phobos andDeimos are rarely referred to as Mars I and Mars II, and theMoon is never referred to as "Earth I". However, since 2015 some moons have again been numbered without being named, starting fromJupiter LI.
The thirteen named satellites of Saturn fromAegir toSurtur were named inalphabetical order corresponding to their Roman numerals.
When satellites are first discovered, they are given provisional designations such as "S/2010 J 2" (the 2nd new satellite of Jupiter discovered in 2010) or "S/2003 S 1" (the 1st new satellite of Saturn discovered in 2003). The initial "S/" stands for "satellite", and distinguishes from such prefixes as "D/", "C/", and "P/", used forcomets. The designation "R/" is used for planetary rings. These designations are sometimes written like "S/2003 S1", dropping the second space. The letter following the category and year identifies the planet (Jupiter,Saturn,Uranus,Neptune; although no occurrence of the other planets is expected, Mars and Mercury are disambiguated through the use ofHermes for the latter).Pluto was designated byP prior to itsrecategorization as adwarf planet. When the object is found around a minor planet, the identifier used is the latter's number in parentheses. Thus,Dactyl, the moon of243 Ida, was at first designated "S/1993 (243) 1". Once confirmed and named, it became(243) Ida I Dactyl. Similarly, the fourth satellite of Pluto,Kerberos, discovered after Pluto was categorized as a dwarf planet and assigned a minor planet number, was designatedS/2011 (134340) 1 rather than S/2011 P 1,[29] though theNew Horizons team, who maintained that dwarf planets were planets, used the latter.
Note: The assignation of "H" for Mercury is specified by theUSGS Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature; since they usually follow IAU guidelines closely, this is very likely the IAU convention, but confirmation is needed: there have been no moons found to be orbiting Mercury as of yet.
After a few months or years, when a newly discovered satellite's existence has been confirmed and its orbit computed, a permanent name is chosen, which replaces the "S/" provisional designation. However, in the past, some satellites remained unnamed for surprisingly long periods after their discovery.
The timeline only includes moons of the planets and the more likely dwarf planets.Ceres (no moons),Orcus,Pluto,Haumea,Quaoar,Makemake (unnamed moon),Gonggong,Eris, andSedna (no moons) are generally agreed among astronomers to be dwarf planets.Salacia andVarda are more controversial.
The following names were adopted by informal processes preceding the assumption by theIAU of control over the assignment of satellite nomenclature in 1973.
| Date | Namer | Name | Image | Planet/Number Designation | Discovery date | References/Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17th century | ||||||
| 1614 | Simon Marius | Io |  | Jupiter I | 1610 | Marius (Simon Mayr), in his bookMundus Iovialis anno M.DC.IX Detectus Ope Perspicilli Belgici,names the Galilean moons, andattributes the suggestion toJohannes Kepler. |
| Europa |  | Jupiter II | ||||
| Ganymede |  | Jupiter III | ||||
| Callisto | .jpg) | Jupiter IV | ||||
| 19th century | ||||||
| 1847 | John Herschel | Mimas |  | Saturn I | 1789 | Herschel named the seven known satellites of Saturn in his bookResults of Astronomical Observations made at the Cape of Good Hope, as reported by William Lassell,Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 42–43 January 14, 1848 |
| Enceladus |  | Saturn II | ||||
| Tethys |  | Saturn III | 1684 | |||
| Dione |  | Saturn IV | ||||
| Rhea |  | Saturn V | 1672 | |||
| Titan |  | Saturn VI | 1655 | |||
| Iapetus |  | Saturn VIII | 1671 | |||
| 1848 | William Lassell | Hyperion |  | Saturn VII | 1847 | Lassell, following John Herschel's suggested scheme, names HyperionDiscovery of a New Satellite of Saturn, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 8, No. 9, pp. 195–197. |
| 1852 | John Herschel | Ariel |  | Uranus I | 1851 | Herschel named the four known satellites of Uranus inAstronomische Nachrichten, Vol. 34, No. 812, pp. 325/326, 21 June 1852 (communication dated 26 May 1852.) |
| Umbriel |  | Uranus II | ||||
| Titania | _color%2c_cropped.jpg) | Uranus III | 1787 | |||
| Oberon |  | Uranus IV | ||||
| 1878 | Asaph Hall | Phobos |  | Mars I | 1877 | Hall named his two newly discovered satellites of MarsPhobus andDeimus:Astronomische Nachrichten, Vol. 92, No. 2187, pp. 47/48 14 March 1878 (signed 7 February 1878). The names were subsequently amended toPhobos andDeimos. |
| Deimos |  | Mars II | ||||
| 1880 | Camille Flammarion | Triton | .jpg) | Neptune I | 1846 | Flammarion suggested the nameTriton in his 1880 bookAstronomie populaire,p. 591. The name was considered unofficial for decades afterwards. |
| c. 1893 | Camille Flammarion | Amalthea |  | Jupiter V | 1892 | Flammarion suggested the nameAmalthea in correspondence with discovererE. E. Barnard. Barnard declined to propose any name, however, andAmalthea remained an unofficial name until its adoption by the IAU in 1975. |
| April 1899 | William Henry Pickering | Phoebe |  | Saturn IX | 1899 | Pickering suggested the namePhoebe inA New Satellite of Saturn, Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 274–276, April 1899, by his brotherEdward C. Pickering. |
| 20th century | ||||||
| April 1939 | Seth Barnes Nicholson declines to name satellites of Jupiter he has discovered (Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 51, No. 300, pp. 85–94, signed March 1939) | |||||
| June 1949 | Gerard P. Kuiper | Miranda | .jpg) | Uranus V | 1948 | Kuiper proposed the name Miranda in his report of the discovery,The Fifth Satellite of Uranus, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 61, No. 360, p. 129, June 1949. |
| August 1949 | Gerard P. Kuiper | Nereid |  | Neptune II | 1949 | Kuiper proposed the name Nereid in his report of the discovery,The second satellite of Neptune, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 61, No. 361, pp. 175–176, August 1949. |
| 1 February 1967 | Audouin Dollfus | Janus |  | Saturn X | 1966 | Dollfus named Janus in a report of 1 February 1967 relating to its discovery (IAUC 1995: Saturn X (Janus)). |
The following names were selected through a formal process controlled by the IAU. Only in a few cases is the person who chose the name identified.
| IAU Names - 20th century | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Name | Image | Planet/Number Designation | Discovery date | References/Notes | |
| 7 October 1975 | Himalia |  | Jupiter VI | 1904 | IAUC 2846: Satellites of Jupiter. Also confirmed the nameAmalthea. | |
| Elara |  | Jupiter VII | 1905 | |||
| Pasiphaë |  | Jupiter VIII | 1908 | |||
| Sinope |  | Jupiter IX | 1914 | |||
| Lysithea |  | Jupiter X | 1938 | |||
| Carme |  | Jupiter XI | ||||
| Ananke |  | Jupiter XII | 1951 | |||
| Leda |  | Jupiter XIII | 1974 | |||
| 1982 | Thebe |  | Jupiter XIV | 1979 | Transactions of the International Astronomical Union, Vol. XVIIIA, 1982. Mentioned in IAUC 3872 (in 1983). Also confirmed the nameJanus. Saturn XII was also numbered at this time, but left unnamed as "Dione B". In the 1982 announcement Thebe and Adrastea were mistakenly swapped. | |
| Adrastea |  | Jupiter XV | ||||
| Metis |  | Jupiter XVI | ||||
| Epimetheus |  | Saturn XI | 1980 | |||
| Telesto |  | Saturn XIII | ||||
| Calypso |  | Saturn XIV | ||||
| 30 September 1983 | Atlas |  | Saturn XV | 1980 | IAUC 3872: Satellites of Jupiter and Saturn | |
| 3 January 1986 | Prometheus |  | Saturn XVI | IAUC 4157: Satellites of Saturn and Pluto | ||
| Pandora |  | Saturn XVII | ||||
| 3 January 1986 | Charon |  | Pluto I | 1978 | IAUC 4157: Satellites of Saturn and Pluto.James W. Christy announced the nameCharon shortly after his discovery of the satellite in 1978, but the name remained unofficial until its adoption by the IAU in 1986. | |
| 8 June 1988 (numbered 1982) | Helene |  | Saturn XII | 1980 | IAUC 4609: Satellites of Saturn and Uranus | |
| 8 June 1988 | Cordelia |  | Uranus VI | 1986 | IAUC 4609: Satellites of Saturn and Uranus | |
| Ophelia |  | Uranus VII | ||||
| Bianca |  | Uranus VIII | ||||
| Cressida |  | Uranus IX | ||||
| Desdemona |  | Uranus X | ||||
| Juliet |  | Uranus XI | ||||
| Portia |  | Uranus XII | ||||
| Rosalind |  | Uranus XIII | ||||
| Belinda |  | Uranus XIV | ||||
| Puck |  | Uranus XV | 1985 | |||
| 16 September 1991 | Pan |  | Saturn XVIII | 1990 | IAUC 5347: Satellites of Saturn and Neptune | |
| 16 September 1991 | Naiad |  | Neptune III | 1989 | IAUC 5347: Satellites of Saturn and Neptune | |
| Thalassa |  | Neptune IV | ||||
| Despina |  | Neptune V | ||||
| Galatea |  | Neptune VI | ||||
| Larissa |  | Neptune VII | ||||
| Proteus | .jpg) | Neptune VIII | ||||
| 30 April 1998 | Caliban |  | Uranus XVI | 1997 | B. J. Gladman, P. D. Nicholson, J. A. Burns, J. J. Kavelaars, B. G. Marsden, G. V. Williams and W. B. Offuttpropose the names Caliban and Sycorax in their account of the discovery:Gladman, B. J.;Nicholson, P. D.;Burns, J. A.;Kavelaars, J. J.;Marsden, B. G.;Williams, G. V.;Offutt, W. B. (1998). "Discovery of two distant irregular moons of Uranus".Nature.392 (6679):897–899.Bibcode:1998Natur.392..897G.doi:10.1038/31890.S2CID 4315601..IAUC 7132: Satellites of Uranus (The IAU appears to have adopted these names prior to those reported in IAUC 7479.) | |
| Sycorax |  | Uranus XVII | ||||
| 21 August 2000 | Prospero |  | Uranus XVIII | 1999 | IAUC 7479: Satellites of Uranus | |
| Setebos |  | Uranus XIX | ||||
| Stephano |  | Uranus XX | ||||
For completeness, moons that were left unnamed upon their official numbering have also been included.
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