True, but there are also only so many variation on ‘yellow something some warbler’ etc. you can use before they become impractical too.
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Or Pac-man frogs. Sure, my generation played Pac-man, but younger generations, not so much.
The irony, after everything we read about the value of scientific names over common names: in some taxa, common names have remained stable through multiple revisions of the scientific name. Whether we’re discussing Salmo gairdneri or Oncorhynchus mykiss, anglers know what a rainbow trout is.
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I’m not a fan of anything being named after people. To me, it seems rather arrogant and selfish. Common names should reflect some characteristic, behavior or location of the species. Such as the American Robin. It’s a thrush not a Robin in the vein of European robins. What bothers me is the idea of splitting species such the mallard clan and Red Tailed Hawks. If there are obvious genetic differences than they should be changed.
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Ceratophryids are a better example, haha.
A paper in BirdWatching… Head of AOS commits to «changing exclusionary or harmful bird names»
https://www.birdwatchingdaily.com/news/science/aos-commits-changing-exclusionary-harmful-bird-names/
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Let’s go with Nearctic Orange-breasted Thrush? :)
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Ugh, no. Robin is a true vernacular name, in that settlers from Europe called it that because it reminded them of their robin back home. Genuine vernacular names of such vintage are in a different league from coined common names.
(Aside: It always did bother me, the scene in Mary Poppins where a robin flies to her hand – and it’s an American robin, in London.)
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Our Cape robin has been renamed
Cape robin-chat, which is, clunky. And it is such a pretty bird, and happy garden companion who sings beautifully.
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Thanks for the article. Interesting that the AOS president who is discussing the possible actions to remove eponymous bird names is the “director of the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and is the Robert G. Engel Professor of Ornithology at Cornell”. That’s quite a string of eponyms right there.
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Not all names have to be physical descriptors, there’s some great proposals for habitat-based names, as well as some existing ones that can be quite useful. Marsh Wren and Pine Warbler are two that come to mind right away as helpful names.
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I recently went back to look at the common names checklist for North American odonates. Dragonflies and damselflies have a rather short history in regards to common names, about 30 years or so, and don’t have the historical baggage of bird common names. Many were invented at around the same time (to address the need for non-scientific names for hobbyists) and are quite descriptive in a poetic way. Who can argue with names like Brimstone Clubtail, Fiery-eyed Dancer, or Neon Skimmer?
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I’m fine with birds named after people (in fact I’d probably sneak a name in somewhere if I had the chance to name an organism) but for anyone who has multiple birds named after them, I’d rename all but one.
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I recently came across this blog post with a Native American perspective on one bird name, which I found very worthwhile reading (content warning: what you might expect in a historical account of how Native Americans were treated in the 19th century).
There was a request earlier to understand this sort of perspective, so I add the link here:
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I jusr realised that from all mentioned people’s names only Baer’s pochard is in our common names for those birds (mostly because of latin name) even though it’s always easier to copy what English has for foreign birds. I’m quite proud for our birders!
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That’s an eye-opening article. Scott’s Oriole is a beautiful bird that I always enjoy seeing in the Southwest U.S. I can certainly see why that common name should be dumped and seems like it’s application for this species was rather tenuous to begin with. Desert Oriole? Cactus Oriole?
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From the comments below the article, it seems like Yucca Oriole is a strong contender, and a more evocative, meaningful name:
Thanks to comments from others, I’ve since learned the bird’s name can be translated to Yucca Oriole in Finish and Norwegian, Desert Oriole in Danish, Black-hooded Oriole in Czeck, and California Oriole in German.
Yucca Oriole is particularly poetic. Besides being very partial to yucca, the plant is important to many indigenous people of the Southwest. The Pueblo used it to purify themselves after driving out the Spaniards in 1680, and still do to this day.
In a poll of alternate names on a Facebook group (Redpolling), Yucca is currently the clear leader with 43 votes, followed by Desert Oriole with 9, Agave with 6, and Mojave, Ocotillo, Oasis, Prickly Pear, Opuntia, and Yellow-bellied Oriole all with one to three votes each.
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Yes, that’s a better name. I’ve seen them multiple times perched in yucca, also visiting agaves for nectar.
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Scott’s is one of the few honorifics that I would be in favor of changing.
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Okay, that’s the present-day United States. When will this same conversation begin in other colonized countries?
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I learned today that the bee genus Perdita only received a common name (fairy bees) about 5 years ago. I never knew how lucky birders are!
Some of them are kind of silly, though. “In 1829, natural historian and surgeon René-Primevère Lesson named Rivoli’s Hummingbird in honor of the second Duke of Rivoli , an amateur ornithologist. Lesson also named Anna’s Hummingbird in honor of the duke’s wife.” Rivoli’s hummingbird was called Magnificent before a recent split, but aren’t all hummingbirds magnificent?
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