Rou is asteroid #5412 and also known as 1973 SR₃. Rou was already in 1931 precovered at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory as 1931 TK, measures 4.9 km in diameter, and belongs to the Nysa-Polana asteroid-complex. Rou’s orbit is characterized by a semi-major axis of 2.44 Astronomical Units, an eccentricity of 0.19, a period of revolution of 1’395 days, and an inclination of 2.4 degrees. Rou was discovered by the Soviet-Russian-Ukrainian astronomer Lyudmila Vasilyevna Zhuravlova (Людмила Васильевна Журавлёва/ Людмила Василівна Журавльова; these two spellings are because she was Russian and Ukrainian) at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory/ Nauchnij research campus.

Rou is named after the Russian movie director and script author Aleksandr Arturovich Rou (Александр Артурович Роу). Wikipedia’s English-speaking portion calls him a producer and actor, yet he had only one role in a movie and for this even didn’t get listed in the credits. But he directed many movies. He lived from 1906 until 1973 and was after his contemporary Aleksandr Lukich Ptushko (Александр Лукич Птушко), who lived from 1900 until 1973, the most prominent director of Soviet fairy tale movies. The latter was by the New York Times called the Soviet Walt Disney and was ahead of his time, especially in the special effects department. Aleksandr Arturovich Rou (Александр Артурович Роу) was less specialized, preferred to work always with the same actors, and (not always successfully) prohibited alcohol on the set. Aleksandr Arturovich Rou (Александр Артурович Роу) in his later works deviated from the original fairy tales and added own fantasies. His works were popular in the German Democratic Republic and hence influenced how the Soviet Union was perceived in the German Democratic Republic. Aleksandr Arturovich Rou (Александр Артурович Роу) was the son of the Irish immigrant Arthur Howard Rowe, so the name Rou (Роу) rather is the Russian transcription for the Irish or Celtic name Rowe.

The name Rou (Роу) or Rowe is derived from Latin russus via Old French Roux and Gaelic Rúad. All of these words or names denote a redhead. So the asteroid Rou represents redheads. The asteroid Rou also represents persons named Rowe as well as directors of fairy tale movies.