<p>New objects usually get some preliminary name or number according to one or more naming or numbering conventions (e.g. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bright_Star_Catalogue" rel="nofollow">HR numbers for stars</a>). If there aren't too many objects of interest, they are named by the discoverer(s) (e.g. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_volume" rel="nofollow">Hubble volume</a>), an institution (e.g. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2011_L4" rel="nofollow">PANSTARRS</a>), an occasional nickname liked by the public (e.g. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole" rel="nofollow">black hole</a>), or by a majority in a commitee or an election (e.g. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydra_%28moon%29" rel="nofollow">Hydra</a>).</p>

<p>For our universe I can only speculate; probably a notion of the respective multiverse theory would become part of the name, e.g. "Herman brane", if we take a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brane_cosmology" rel="nofollow">brane cosmology</a> as an example.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-06-05T16:23:01.497Z
@PeterU ..because some of the other universes contain Earths, but not "Our Earth". We could call our universe the "peter U universe" because this id the universe that is unique in containing PeterU... or is it...?
KDP
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-24T22:40:45.883Z
In a Multiverse Universe why not just call our Universe the Earth Universe ?
Peter U
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-23T11:25:04.707Z
2014-02-23T11:25:04.707Z
Gerald
<p>We live in the Milky Way Galaxy, but we don't just call it &quot;The Galaxy&quot;, because we know there are multiple different galaxies. So if we lived in a multiverse, it wouldn't make much sense to keep calling our universe &quot;The Universe&quot;.</p>
<p>How are names for things like this created, and what would a likely name for our universe be?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-18T18:42:11.827Z
There's already a precedent set for this at the "Universe Or Multiverse?" conference at Stanford in 2003 (see the book of the same name, ISBN 9780521140690) where, contrary to your suggestion, it's simply "(a) universe" and "(our) Universe" - note the capitalization.  (This was, however, prior to the Universy McUniverseface style trend ;)
The Geoff
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-06-05T16:20:24.413Z
FWIW, The Milky Way was not given a name to distinguish it from other galaxies. Early astronomy assumed there was only one galaxy and the galaxy was the universe. Other galaxies just appeared to be fuzzy stars with the instruments available at the time. The name was probably just a common name used by people who were not even astronomers because f its appearance, back in the days before light pollution. AFAIK no naming committee was involved.
KDP
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-23T14:26:47.833Z
@Rhys, very reasonable and good question. If questions whether pluto is a planet and alike are discussed at IAU meetings, why would it be unreasonable to speculate on the possible names for our part of the multiverse?
Alexey Bobrick
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-25T16:30:05.863Z
@AlexeyBobrick I reclosed with hopefully a more clear close reason. I wouldn't exactly say it is off topic, but we have no reliable methodology for determining what the IAU might name our universe, especially since names for unique items in a set are usually derived from features which distinguish them from other items in the set. Since we do not know what other universes are like (if they exist), this leaves us with really nothing to work with.
called2voyage
<universe><naming><multiverse>
If we lived in a multiverse, what would our universe most likely then be named?
Jaken
# If we lived in a multiverse, what would our universe most likely then be named?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-02-22)

We live in the Milky Way Galaxy, but we don't just call it "The Galaxy", because we know there are multiple different galaxies. So if we lived in a multiverse, it wouldn't make much sense to keep calling our universe "The Universe".

How are names for things like this created, and what would a likely name for our universe be?

**Tags:** universe, naming, multiverse

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: @Rhys, very reasonable and good question. If questions whether pluto is a planet and alike are discussed at IAU meetings, why would it be unreasonable to speculate on the possible names for our part of the multiverse?  
> **username_4**: @AlexeyBobrick I reclosed with hopefully a more clear close reason. I wouldn't exactly say it is off topic, but we have no reliable methodology for determining what the IAU might name our universe, especially since names for unique items in a set are usually derived from features which distinguish them from other items in the set. Since we do not know what other universes are like (if they exist), this leaves us with really nothing to work with.  
> **username_1**: There's already a precedent set for this at the "Universe Or Multiverse?" conference at Stanford in 2003 (see the book of the same name, ISBN 9780521140690) where, contrary to your suggestion, it's simply "(a) universe" and "(our) Universe" - note the capitalization.  (This was, however, prior to the Universy McUniverseface style trend ;)  
> **username_2**: FWIW, The Milky Way was not given a name to distinguish it from other galaxies. Early astronomy assumed there was only one galaxy and the galaxy was the universe. Other galaxies just appeared to be fuzzy stars with the instruments available at the time. The name was probably just a common name used by people who were not even astronomers because f its appearance, back in the days before light pollution. AFAIK no naming committee was involved.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2014-02-23. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

New objects usually get some preliminary name or number according to one or more naming or numbering conventions (e.g. [HR numbers for stars](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bright_Star_Catalogue)). If there aren't too many objects of interest, they are named by the discoverer(s) (e.g. [Hubble volume](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_volume)), an institution (e.g. [PANSTARRS](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2011_L4)), an occasional nickname liked by the public (e.g. [black hole](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole)), or by a majority in a commitee or an election (e.g. [Hydra](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydra_%28moon%29)).

For our universe I can only speculate; probably a notion of the respective multiverse theory would become part of the name, e.g. "Herman brane", if we take a [brane cosmology](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brane_cosmology) as an example.

> **Comments:**
> **username_6**: In a Multiverse Universe why not just call our Universe the Earth Universe ?  
> **username_2**: @PeterU ..because some of the other universes contain Earths, but not "Our Earth". We could call our universe the "peter U universe" because this id the universe that is unique in containing PeterU... or is it...?  

---

