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On March 13, 1781, William Herschel observed a faint object in the constellation Gemini and noted that it moved slowly relative to the background stars. Hershel first thought the object to be a comet but upon further study identified it as the seventh planet in our solar system.

He wanted to name this newly discovered planet after the monarch of his adopted
United Kingdom and initially gave it the name Georgium Sidus (Latin for “George’s
Star”) to honor King George III but astronomers outside of Great Britain objected to an English-centric name arguing that planets should all be named following the ancient tradition of naming them after Roman deities.

The naming controversy continued well into the 19th Century until the German astronomer Johann Elert Bode proposed “Uranus.” Bode’s suggestion became the most popular, and chemist Martin Klaproth even named his newly discovered element “uranium” in a show of support. The name “Uranus”, however, does not follow the Roman tradition because “Uranus” is a variation on the name of the Greek god Ouranos. Bode seemed to just prefer the sound of Ouranos (much to the delight of middle school children everywhere). Of course, we use a Latinized version of the Greek so Ouranos became Uranus, and the planet was officially named Uranus in 1850. To English astronomers, the planet was officially Georgium Sidus form 1781 until 1850, when they eventually joined the rest of the world in calling the seventh planet Uranus.

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