"Beta Canis Majoris" is the star's Bayer designation. The traditional names "Mirzam", "Al-Murzim" or "Murzim", derive from the Arabic (مرزم) for 'The Herald', and probably refers to its position, heralding (i.e., rising before) Sirius in the night sky. In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN; which included "Mirzam" for this star.