Named in honor of Koichi Kitao (b. 1953), Japanese amateur astronomer and director of the folklore section of the Oriental Astronomical Association. He is a winner of the I. Yamamoto Award (O.A.A.) and the S. Kaho Award (Japan Amateur Astronomical Conference) for his extensive studies of dialectal atar names and star-related folklore. Name proposed by the discoverers following a suggestion by S. Kuwabara, T. Sato and A. Fujii.