Named in honor of Hideo Maehara (b. 1940), professor of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and director of the Okayama Astrophysical Observatory since 1993. He works at the observatories in Kiso and Okayama as a resident astronomer to provide advanced observational facilities to researchers. His research themes include wide-field surveys of late-type stars and ultraviolet-excess objects using the Kiso Schmidt telescope. Name proposed by the discoverers following a suggestion by Y. Yamada.