1988 VS4. Discovered 1988 Nov. 4 by C. S. Shoemaker and E. M. Shoemaker at Palomar.

Named in honor of Harold D. Ables (1938– ), an astronomer and former director at the U.S. Naval Observatory’s Flagstaff Station. Ables led the Flagstaff Station in its development of CCD capabilities for astrometry and spearheaded the transition from photographic to CCD techniques in parallax determinations. (M 27459)

Name proposed by the discoverers following a suggestion by the JPL ephemeris group.