The designations of the two constituents Delta Cancri A and B, and those of A's components - Delta Cancri Aa and Ab - derive from the convention used by the Washington Multiplicity Catalog (WMC) for multiple star systems, and adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).

The WGSN decided to attribute proper names to individual stars rather than entire multiple systems.

[10] As Arkū-sha-nangaru-sha-shūtu, which means "the southeast star in the Crab", it marked the 13th ecliptic station of the ancient Babylonians.

[13] Delta Cancri itself is known as the fourth star of Ghost (Chinese: 鬼宿四; pinyin: Guǐ Xiù sì).

In ancient times M44 was used as a weather gauge as the following Greek rhyme from Aratos' Prognostica reveals: A murky manger with both stars Shining unaltered is a sign of rain.