Getting into North American Unionids, Lampsilis ovata is “Pocketbook”, but L. cardium is “Plain Pocketbook”, even though one way to tell them apart is that the “Plain” one can have more rays. Perhaps “Plains Pocketbook” as its found less in the mountainous areas of the interior drainage.
But the Papershell/Heelsplitter/Paper Pondshell thing above annoys me the most.
There is a species of moth which I always called “the pink panther” because it appears pink, with a pattern like leopard spots. I think that is more descriptive than its actual name “ornate bella.”
…and now I have the Henry Mancini theme stuck in my head, thank you. 
Too bad that earworms don’t lend themselves to observations.
For Canada Goose, these options maybe available:
1.“Honker Goose” or “Honking Goose”, since we have the species name with the same rule like “Trumpeter Swan”,“Whooping Crane”,“Whooper swan”
2.“Elegant Goose”
3.Other’s suggestions like “Golf-course Goose”, or “Community College Goose”, or “Parking Lot Goose”, and I often use “VIP Goose”, these better use as informal names, or just joking
4.“Large Swan Goose”, this species is most similar to swan, for “Swan Goose” I also don’t think it’s suitable bucause that species don’t looks like swan
You meant “spectre owl”, since spectre is a ghost.
I actually know the (possible) reason for this one. There is a story that the plant first came to botanical notice from a ship called the “Peru” . This is disputed however, as the first use of the epithet came from Carolus Clusius in 1601 as Hyacinthus stellatus peruanus He said (in Latin) “Primum autem locum merito sibi vindicabit elegant et rarissimus ille, quem, ex Peruano orbe delatum, in suo horto alebat Everardus Munichoven et florentem suis coloribus exprimi curabat.” which Google helpfully translates as “But the first place will deservedly claim for itself the elegant and rarest one, which, brought from the world of Peru, Everard Munichhoven nurtured in his garden and took care to express the blooming with his colors.” Which I think is rather delightful, but clearly places the origin of the name as FROM “the world of Peru”. What I would like to know is the origins of the ship story!
Anyway, I digress, Taxonomy is a fundamentally conservative science, preserving the origins of the interactions of the natural world with the growing voice of scientific discovery, It is ok to play it as a game, but you would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater if you did this for real!
I can’t help think of “from darkest Peru” → Paddington bear.
Which would make him the species Tremarctos ornatus.
Columba livia also known as the Common Pigeon, is frequently called “Rat with Wings” here in Australia. By extension this would make the House Sparrow Passer domesticus “Mouse with Wings”
“Spectral” is the adjective for that, but it originated from the word “spectre.”
For UK moths I would change
elephant hawkmoth to Rosy hawkmoth ( I get why they have the name but IMO moth names should be about the actual imago and not the caterpillar)
pale mottled willow moth to pale rustic ( it has no connection to willows)
any of the many moths named after one place where someone found it ( unless they are exclusively found in that particular area which isn’t the case for most which are often very common in mainland Europe)
for moths elsewhere my main one is to have hickory horned devil removed from the list of names for the regal moth,
1 It’s an ominous name for a big fluffy moth that looks like a cute little bird
2 as as I mentioned naming moths purely after their caterpillars is something which annoys me
3 they don’t just feed on Hickory.
Actually, we discovered a plant who was initially named vaginans!!! wondering if we could revived this and rename lol
But then we’d miss out on names like woolly bear.
Funnily enough, “Flutterby” is a sort of spoonerism for “Butterfly”
Another example is an Australian tree named Eucalyptus molluccana, even though it doesn’t occur naturally in the Molluccas (now Maluku) in Indonesia. Apparently the type specimen was a planted tree at that location.
How about “If you could rename an existing Genus?”
In mythology, ambrosia was the food of the Olympian gods, pleasant and fragrant and conferring immortality.
The name ambrosia has also been applied to a sweet salad of fruits, coconut, and cream, which is light and pleasant to the palate.
Then there is the botanical genus Ambrosia. There is nothing ambrosial about those plants unless you enjoy itchy eyes and sneezing.
I would rename all the recently described species that have had the misfortune of being named after some pop celebrity. If naming insects after some old white male entomologist is bad, naming an insect with a big butt after a celebrity with a big butt is going to be tomorrow’s equally bad faux pas.
Not exactly a “rename”, but I would definitely prefer “Nene” over “Hawaiian Goose”. In Hawaii, as far as I could tell, NO ONE calls them “Hawaiian Goose” and all the road signs, museums, literature, etc, call them “Nene”. The AOS sticks with Hawaiian Goose, and I guess iNat follows them.
Anctinopus anselmoi, named after Phil Anselmo (lead singer of Pantera, very into the confederate flag and throwing open-handed salutes if you feel me). He doesn’t deserve a spider. 