Nebula Name Generator

Most have a catalog designation (M for Messier, NGC and IC for the New General and Index Catalogues, Sh2 for Sharpless, Barnard numbers for dark clouds) and, if they are photogenic, a popular nickname describing their shape: Crab, Ring, Horsehead, Cat's Eye, Helix. A few are named after discoverers, like Barnard's Loop and Hubble's Variable Nebula, and some famous regions inside larger nebulae have their own names, like the Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula.

Match it to who named it. Scientists would give a survey label like Thrale Supernova Remnant or Ithris Star-Forming Region; spacers would use a blunt visual nickname like The Widow's Shawl or Ember Cradle; an old religious culture would use a mythic name like Hecate's Lantern or Tiamat's Breath. A nebula that matters to the plot usually deserves two names, the formal one and the one people actually say.

A nebula is a cloud of gas and dust inside a galaxy, often where stars are being born (Orion, Carina) or where one has died (Crab, Ring, Helix). A galaxy is a whole system of billions of stars, and a cluster is a tight group of stars. Early astronomers called all of them nebulae because they looked fuzzy, which is why the Andromeda Galaxy was once the Andromeda Nebula.

Yes. Short invented names like Cinderhaven, Glimmerveil, Halcyon Drift and Nightbloom work well as handles, studio names or album titles, and the Latin coinages like Velum Aureum or Lux Dormiens give a more formal feel. Check trademarks before using any name commercially.