Ai to iu namae no hoshi de (愛という名前の星で)


This phrase of a Japanese song "Ai to iu namae no hoshi de" is translated as
"made on the star called love". Now "namae no hoshi de" would be something
like "in the star of name..." , but I can't make sense of "ai to iu".

I know ai is love, and iu is "to say", but how exactly "ai to iu" translates?




という is almost a single particle of
[apposition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apposition), that roughly means
"called", "named" or "which is". The word has no grammatical equivalent in
English, so I can't give the "exact" translation of itself independent from
sentence.

> 愛という名前の星で  
>  lit. _at/in/on a planet by/with name of love_  
>  "on a planet that has the name 'love'"

Yes, it often disappears in natural English translation (as in _the planet
Earth_ , _the word impossible_ etc).

* * *

という and という名（前）の also has subtle difference. When you say `X という Y` you refer
to the entity mentioned by the name _X_ , but when `X という名前の Y`, you're only
sure about the name and it could mean "any" _Y_ named _X_.

> オバマという男は大統領だ。 _A man known as Obama is president._ → true  
>  オバマという名前の男は大統領だ。 _A man whose name is Obama (you can pick) is..._ → false  
>  **その** オバマという名前の男は大統領だ。 _**The** man whose name is Obama is..._ → true  
>  オバマという名前の男 **が** 大統領だ。 _The president is a man whose name is Obama._ → true

* * *

**PS**  
The spelling is 愛という名前の惑星【ほし】で in [the original
lyrics](http://www.jtw.zaq.ne.jp/animesong/ti/southern/yakusoku.html) OP
mentioned, which is a [creative
ateji](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/27453/7810).




という is almost a single particle of
[apposition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apposition), that roughly means
"called", "named" or "which is". The word has no grammatical equivalent in
English, so I can't give the "exact" translation of itself independent from
sentence.

> 愛という名前の星で  
>  lit. _at/in/on a planet by/with name of love_  
>  "on a planet that has the name 'love'"

Yes, it often disappears in natural English translation (as in _the planet
Earth_ , _the word impossible_ etc).

* * *

という and という名（前）の also has subtle difference. When you say `X という Y` you refer
to the entity mentioned by the name _X_ , but when `X という名前の Y`, you're only
sure about the name and it could mean "any" _Y_ named _X_.

> オバマという男は大統領だ。 _A man known as Obama is president._ → true  
>  オバマという名前の男は大統領だ。 _A man whose name is Obama (you can pick) is..._ → false  
>  **その** オバマという名前の男は大統領だ。 _**The** man whose name is Obama is..._ → true  
>  オバマという名前の男 **が** 大統領だ。 _The president is a man whose name is Obama._ → true

* * *

**PS**  
The spelling is 愛という名前の惑星【ほし】で in [the original
lyrics](http://www.jtw.zaq.ne.jp/animesong/ti/southern/yakusoku.html) OP
mentioned, which is a [creative
ateji](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/27453/7810).

