In July 2014 the International Astronomical Union launched a process for giving proper names to certain exoplanets and their host stars . The process involved public nomination and voting for the new names . In December 2015 , the IAU announced the winning name was Saffar for this planet . The winning name was submitted by the Vega Astronomy Club of Morocco and honours the 11th Century astronomer Ibn al @-@ Saffar of Muslim Spain .