Until last month, the smallest star in the Southern Cross had the no-nonsense title of Epsilon Crucis – literally the fifth-brightest star of the Cross.

No longer. The International Astronomical Union has announced it will be given a new, additional common name: Ginan, the name it has been called for thousands of years by the Wardaman people of the Northern Territory.

Ginan, previously known as Epsilon Crucis, is seen on the far right of this image and is the smallest star in the Southern Cross. Credit:Eddie Yip / Creative Commons

Ginan is about 228 light years from Earth. It "represents a red dilly-bag filled with special songs of knowledge", Monash University astronomer Duane Hamacher writes on The Conversation.

The star is one of four the astronomical union will now recognise by their Aboriginal names, as part of a wider project to give the stars in our sky proper titles. Epsilon Scorpii, located in the constellation Scorpius, has been renamed Larawag; in the Phoenicis constellation there is now a Wurren; and in Canis Majoris (the Great Dog) a star has been named Unurgunite.