Ptolemy considered the star to be shared by Auriga, and Johann Bayer assigned it a designation in both constellations.

[12] The traditional name Elnath, variously El Nath or Alnath, comes from the Arabic word النطح an-naţħ, meaning "the butting" (i.e. the bull's horns).

[11] Relative to the Sun, β Tauri is notable for a high abundance of manganese, but little calcium and magnesium.

[9] At the southern edge of the narrow plane of the Milky Way Galaxy a few degrees west of the galactic anticenter, β Tauri figures (appears) as a foreground object south of many nebulae and star clusters such as M36, M37, and M38.

[25][26] Six angularly closer, even fainter stars have been found in a search for brown dwarf and planetary companions – all considered background objects.

Radial velocity measurements indicate that Beta Tauri is a single-lined spectroscopic binary, but there is no published information about the companion or orbit.