What follows is a new convention that I believe is more practical than
the conventional approach.

When the clock strikes midnight and your birthday celebrations
commence, there is at least one prominently bright star crossing the
meridian of the night sky. This object is more significant than any
other crossing the meridian at that instant and, rightly, it is your
"birthday star", special and unique to you and only you, to usher in
your happiest hour of the year.

The conventional “birthday star” definition has been “the star whose
light left its surface, heading for Earth, on the day you were born”.
So for example, if you are now 42, your birthday star would be the
bright winter star, Capella (42 light-years distant). This would mean
you have to pick a different birthday star every single year, at
different distances from Earth as you get older, year by year. Even
worse, there are no birthday stars for ages 1, 2, 3, 5, etc. There is
a birthday star for your fourth birthday (i.e. Alpha Centauri, 4.3
light-years away) and a birthday star for your sixth birthday (i.e.
Barnard’s Star, nearly 6 light-years away).

I've come up with another way of "fixing" your birthday star once and
for all, for the whole of one's life :-)

Obviously birthdays are very personal things and people can mark their
commencement however they like. On the eve of one's birthday, at
midnight, if you're reasonably lucky enough you may spot a bright star
- one of the more prominent ones out of the top 100 brightest stars in
the sky:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_brightest_stars


Reaching its highest point in the sky just as the clock rolls forward
to midnight and your birthday arrives.

So, what I'm proposing is why not let the culmination of one of these
stars herald the arrival of your birthday? Clearly, numerous stars are
going to be crossing the midnight meridian on the eve of your
birthday... but it is the most *prominent* object out of the lot that
should be assigned as your birthday star. And here is my *provisional*
list of bright stars that culminate at midnight on various birthday
dates through the year:

02-Jan Sirius
04-Jan Adhara (Epsilon Canis Majoris)
07-Jan Wezen (Delta Canis Majoris)
14-Jan Castor
15-Jan Procyon
17-Jan Pollux
31-Jan Beehive open cluster (M44)
12-Feb Alphard
22-Feb Regulus
25-Feb Algieba (Gamma Leonis)
20-Mar Denebola (Beta Leonis)
28-Apr Spica
04-May Alkaid (Eta Ursae Majoris)
11-May Arcturus
19-May Izar (binary star Epsilon Bootis)
31-May Alphekka
14-Jun Antares
01-Jul Rasalhague
13-Jul Kaus Australis (Epsilon Sagittarii)
16-Jul Vega
30-Jul Albireo
04-Aug Altair
17-Aug Deneb
02-Sep Enif (Epsilon Pegasi)
21-Sep Fomalhaut
08-Oct Alpheratz
17-Oct Diphda (Beta Ceti)
24-Oct Mirach
12-Nov Mirphak (Alpha Persei)
18-Nov Pleiades star cluster (M45)
30-Nov Aldebaran
10-Dec Rigel
11-Dec Capella
20-Dec Betelgeuse

I really admire anyone born on 2nd January... for at midnight on 1st
January, it is none other than the brilliant "Sirius" that culminates
due south at midnight on New Years night! If you were born on Jan
2nd... your birthday star will be the brightest star in the whole
night sky!