# What to do about species with offensive names? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 25, 2023, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-about-species-with-offensive-names/990650 "2023-09-25T01:51:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2023, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-about-species-with-offensive-names/990650/81 "2023-11-01T17:02:37Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > News story today that the powers that be are renaming birds with offensive names. Though that’s common names not scientific names. As mentioned above, I have much less problem with that, it seems fairly reasonable (though as they are common names there is no one authority on what the name is, unlike scientific names) ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2023, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-about-species-with-offensive-names/990650/82 "2023-11-01T17:08:24Z")
Ah. Thanks for the correction. I see that now. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2023, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-about-species-with-offensive-names/990650/83 "2023-11-01T17:20:58Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > though as they are common names there is no one authority on what the name is, unlike scientific names So, birds are a bit of a partial exception to that general rule. Usually, you’d be correct - common names are pretty much defined by usage. However while local and informal names are always going to exist, for birds there IS a semi-official list of accepted English common names put out both by the International Ornithological Committee worldwide and the American Ornithological Union in NA (the body mentioned in that article). It’s generally adhered to closely by birders, who have a tendency to be compulsive collectors of lists. So while some old-times will still refer to California Clapper Rails informally, most have transitioned to the newer Ridgway’s Rail (named after [Robert Ridgway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ridgway)), a name adopted in 2014 when it was separated out as a distinct species. All reports on official lists and birding websites use the new name. Of course it is no doubt soon to be renamed yet again in accordance with this policy. Marsh hawk vs Northern Harrier, moorhen vs Common Gallinule - there are plenty of “informal” common names. But there are actually (semi-)official ones as well, so this policy actually does have some genuine impact. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2023, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-about-species-with-offensive-names/990650/84 "2023-11-01T17:26:25Z")
This is an exciting idea. And I’ve always struggled a little with the Cooper’s hawk, because the name gives no hint about the bird. So i think the new names really will be an upgrade. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2023, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-about-species-with-offensive-names/990650/85 "2023-11-01T17:32:30Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > And I’ve always struggled a little with the Cooper’s hawk, because the name gives no hint about the bird. So, quite the contrary this one will bother me. Because when I was first learning raptors in college, my natural history professor was remarking on how Red-Tailed Hawks were often shot by chicken farmers. But though they are generalists red-tails are not common predators of large birds - they heavily prefer rodents, which actually benefits farmers. A large female Cooper’s Hawk on the other hand might be more tempted by chickens. Hence I formed an association in my mind with Cooper’s Hawk - chicken coop 😉. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2023, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-about-species-with-offensive-names/990650/86 "2023-11-01T17:45:36Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Hence I formed an association in my mind with Cooper’s Hawk - chicken coop 😉. I think you have made a pretty solid case for changing the name from Cooper’s hawk to cooper hawk. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2023, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-about-species-with-offensive-names/990650/87 "2023-11-01T17:53:36Z")
What if the policy of eliminating human names goes beyond birds? Will we someday have to rename the Gary Larson louse? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2023, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-about-species-with-offensive-names/990650/88 "2023-11-01T17:54:10Z")
From the article: > “We’re hoping to be imaginative about this,” said noted naturalist and author Kenn Kaufman. “It’s a great chance to come up with beautiful and evocative ways of describing the visual appearance, song, or habitat they live in.” This, selfishly, is my favorite part: names that lead to easier identification are a great idea, as are names that just make people happier about the birds. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2023, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-about-species-with-offensive-names/990650/89 "2023-11-01T18:08:21Z")
Yes. And the Hitler beetle. Just like the bird named after the Confederate traitor slaver. It’s a fair trade and I doubt Larson would mind. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2023, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-about-species-with-offensive-names/990650/90 "2023-11-01T18:20:19Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > I think you have made a pretty solid case for changing the name from Cooper’s hawk to cooper hawk. Contrary to Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness, I think we should make birding less accessible and more difficult. Just for giggles 😀. Cooper’s hawks and their slightly smaller cousin the Sharp-shinned Hawk are already [notoriously difficult for a lot of people to separate in the field](https://www.audubon.org/news/a-beginners-guide-iding-coopers-and-sharp-shinned-hawks). I propose something more like the Slightly-Less-Sharp-Shinned Hawk or even better something like the Thicker-Legged-But-Only-Relative-To-The-Sharp-Shinned-Hawk-Hawk. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2023, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-about-species-with-offensive-names/990650/91 "2023-11-01T18:29:47Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Contrary to Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness, I think we should make birding less accessible and more difficult. Just for giggles 😀. I think I’m more in the @Left_Hand_of_Dorkness camp. We all love the blue footed booby, and it seems to me that this renaming period would be an opportune time to genetically engineer some of these birds to have brightly colored feet and beaks and make things easier for everyone\*. We can use fluorescent colors for the owls and nightjars. \*Probably including the birds themselve, given that [a parrot confuses a human head for a sexy parrot](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T1vfsHYiKY). ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2023, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-about-species-with-offensive-names/990650/92 "2023-11-01T18:43:13Z")
Can we do something about the vireos while we’re at it? We have red-eyed vireos, blue-headed vireos, and yellow-throated vireos where I live. _Those could all be the same bird!_ But they live way up in the trees and are the color of bark, so you basically never see them. I have two proposals: 1. We keep their names and just engineer them to match. Blue-headed vireos need to be Smurf-blue. Yellow-throated vireos should look like [this](https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/H351a529e84df4a7cb42373829e86e92c2/Black-Purple-Yellow-Gray-White-19-Colors-Soft-Cotton-Line-Scarves-Women-Long-Large-Size-Ladies.jpg). Red-eyed vireos should have eyes that light up like a couple of roadside flares. 2. We rename them “vireo that looks like bark,” “another vireo that also looks like bark,” and “look, we don’t really need separate names for these pals, they’re all just vireos who hang out in the top of trees and make little chirps.” ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2023, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-about-species-with-offensive-names/990650/93 "2023-11-01T23:50:39Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Can we do something about the vireos while we’re at it? We have red-eyed vireos, blue-headed vireos, and yellow-throated vireos where I live. _Those could all be the same bird!_ But they live way up in the trees and are the color of bark, so you basically never see them. You have put your finger on that bane of birders, the [LBB identification.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_brown_bird) Add me to the list of supporters of the American Ornithological Society’s renaming proposal. I wonder if we can stretch it to get a rename on the Canada goose, simply because it bugs me that so many people call them “Canadian” geese. Not every Canada goose is actually from Canada, eh? Thank you! Considering the tumultuous relationship of so many recently urbanized Canada goose populations with their human neighbors, maybe we should be looking at names like “Large Webfooted Pigeon”. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-about-species-with-offensive-names/990650/94 "2023-11-02T00:02:42Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > I wonder if we can stretch it to get a rename on the Canada goose, simply because it bugs me that so many people call them “Canadian” geese. For years I told students that Canada geese were named after an ornithologist named Canada and not after the country–until I finally looked it up and learned that’s a stupid urban legend. One of my great shames as a teacher. But I bet the American Ornithological Society doesn’t know that, and they’re probably really bad at knowing where bird names come from. So just tell them that Dr. Canada was a bigot, and Bob’s your uncle! ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-about-species-with-offensive-names/990650/95 "2023-11-02T07:34:23Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > generally adhered to closely by birders, who have a tendency to be compulsive collectors of lists. They’ll have to take the name _[Loerie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turaco)_ from my cold, blue lips. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-about-species-with-offensive-names/990650/96 "2023-11-02T07:44:58Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > maybe we should be looking at names like “Large Webfooted Pigeon”. Aren’t they already called Cobra Chickens? ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-about-species-with-offensive-names/990650/97 "2023-11-02T16:29:33Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Red-eyed vireos should have eyes that light up like a couple of roadside flares. Like this? [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/b7tPKei.jpeg "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/b7tPKei) ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-about-species-with-offensive-names/990650/98 "2023-11-02T16:33:12Z")
[Just change them](https://www.npr.org/2023/11/01/1209660753/these-american-birds-and-dozens-more-will-be-renamed-to-remove-human-monikers) because birds should not have people’s names. “We’ve come to understand that there are certain names that have offensive or derogatory connotations that cause pain to people, and that it is important to change those, to remove those as barriers to their participation in the world of birds” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-about-species-with-offensive-names/990650/99 "2023-11-02T18:11:13Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Considering the tumultuous relationship of so many recently urbanized Canada goose populations with their human neighbors, maybe we should be looking at names like “Large Webfooted Pigeon”. You know, those things are tasty. Close the park for a day, allow bowhunters in, and problem solved. Same with wild boars. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-about-species-with-offensive-names/990650/100 "2023-11-02T23:53:11Z")
I’ve heard they are tough and gamey. Also, they eat golf course lawn. God only knows what poisons they have accumulated in their flesh. I love a nice young domestic goose. But I’ll take a pass on mature Canada geese. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-about-species-with-offensive-names/990650.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-about-species-with-offensive-names/990650.md?page=6)