In July 2014 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) launched NameExoWorlds, a process for giving proper names to certain exoplanets.

The planet was tentatively identified by a Canadian team of astronomers, which was led by Bruce Campbell, Gordon Walker and Stephenson Yang,[8] while its existence was also announced by Anthony Lawton and P. Wright in 1989.

The team of astronomers (including William D. Cochran, Artie P. Hatzes, et al.) at the Planetary Systems and their Formation Workshop announced the preliminary confirmation of a long-suspected planet γ Cephei Ab with a minimum mass of 1.59 MJ (1.59 times that of Jupiter).

[10] The parameters were later recalculated when direct detection of the secondary star γ Cephei B allowed astronomers to better constrain the properties of the system.

[11] γ Cephei Ab moves in an elliptical orbit with a semimajor axis of 2.044 AU which takes almost two and a half years to complete.