46 Leonis Minoris is the star's
Flamsteed designation. It is sometimes designated "
o LMi" (not "
ο LMi"), from Bode's catalogue of 1801. It was presumably intended to be designated α, as
Francis Baily decided to letter each star brighter than magnitude 4.5, but the designation was missing from his catalogue, even though the dimmer
β was included. It bore the traditional proper name
Praecipua, derived from the
Latin for "the Chief (Star of Leo Minor)". The name may originally have referred to
37 Leonis Minoris, and later mistakenly transferred to this star. In 2016, the
International Astronomical Union (IAU) organized a
Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN approved the name
Praecipua for this star on 30 June 2017 and it is now so included in the List of IAU-approved Star Names. It is known as 勢四, "the Fourth (Star) of the
Eunuch", in traditional
Chinese astronomy. == See also ==