--- title: A Star Named "Putin Is a D—khead" Won't Have Its Named Changed description: Ukrainian astronomers basically called it "Putin is a d—khead" canonical: https://time.com/2964352/vladimir-putin-huilo-star/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-07T23:32:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:11:27.062Z og:title: A Star Named "Putin Is a D—khead" Won't Have Its Named Changed og:description: Ukrainian astronomers basically called it "Putin is a d—khead" og:url: https://time.com/2964352/vladimir-putin-huilo-star/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3a2bc69e51dd366/69869ac4810bbbabb9c92824/451553616.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3776 og:image:height: 2124 og:image:alt: Russian President Vladimir Putin Addresses To Ambassadors Of Russia og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Star Named "Putin Is a D—khead" Won't Have Its Named Changed twitter:description: Ukrainian astronomers basically called it "Putin is a d—khead" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3a2bc69e51dd366/69869ac4810bbbabb9c92824/451553616.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Star With a Not-So-Nice Nickname for Putin Won't Have to Change  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Jul 7, 2014 11:32 PM UTC  Russian President Vladimir Putin Russian President Vladimir PutinSasha Mordovets—Getty Images  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Jul 7, 2014 11:32 PM UTC It’s one small step for man, one giant leap for galactic name-calling. Earlier this month, it was reported that a band of Ukrainian astronomers gave star KIC 9696936 the name “Putin-Huilo!” — a phrase which reportedly roughly translates into “Putin is a d—khead” — through the star-adoption service the Pale Blue Dot project, which lets anyone name one of those giant glowing balls of space plasma for a minimum $10 donation toward space research and education. [In an interview with the Moscow _Times_](http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/no-plans-to-rename-star-called-putin-is-a-dckhead/503017.html), the project’s founder says the stellar name, which has become something of a popular saying in Ukraine after Russia annexed Crimea, is staying put. “Free speech is now written in the stars,” said Travis Metcalfe, who notes that the astronomers adopted the star well before the meaning of the name came to light. “We have no plans to censor any of these star adoptions.” Putin himself hasn’t commented, but if he did, his response would [probably go something like this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVmmYMwFj1I). \[[_Moscow Times_](http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/no-plans-to-rename-star-called-putin-is-a-dckhead/503017.html)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2964352/vladimir-putin-huilo-star/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2964352/vladimir-putin-huilo-star/"},"headline":"A Star With a Not-So-Nice Nickname for Putin Won't Have to Change","datePublished":"2014-07-07T23:32:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:11:27.062Z","description":"Ukrainian astronomers basically called it \"Putin is a d—khead\"","url":"https://time.com/2964352/vladimir-putin-huilo-star/","keywords":["Newsfeed","putin","Ukraine","russia","astronomy","Science topic","star"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3a2bc69e51dd366/69869ac4810bbbabb9c92824/451553616.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3a2bc69e51dd366/69869ac4810bbbabb9c92824/451553616.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Russian President Vladimir Putin Addresses To Ambassadors Of Russia","caption":"Russian President Vladimir Putin Addresses To Ambassadors Of Russia","creditText":"Sasha Mordovets—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2964352/vladimir-putin-huilo-star/","name":"A Star With a Not-So-Nice Nickname for Putin Won't Have to Change"}}]}] ```