The traditional name, "Wezen" (alternatively "Wesen", or "Wezea"), is derived from the medieval Arabic "وزن" "al-wazn", which means 'weight' in modern Arabic. The name was for one of a pair of stars, the other being "Hadar", which has now come to refer to Beta Centauri. It is unclear whether the pair of stars was originally Alpha and Beta Centauri or Alpha and Beta Columbae. In any case, the name was somehow applied to both Delta Canis Majoris and Beta Columbae. Richard Hinckley Allen muses that the name alludes to the difficulty the star has rising above the horizon in the northern hemisphere. Astronomer Jim Kaler has noted the aptness of the traditional name given the star's massive nature.