The American Ornithological Society (AOS) says it will change the nonscientific names of all birds that are named after people (aka eponymous names or eponyms), such as Arizona’s familiar Gambels’ quail (Callipepla gambelii) and Cooper’s hawk (Accipiter cooperii).
The group will also remove names deemed offensive or exclusionary.
The move will not affect birds’ scientific names. That process is governed by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.
But it will have a significant impact. Birds are best known by their common names, which are bandied about in discussions ranging from birdwatching to conservation, public policy and law.
The impetus for change came in 2020, when the killing of George Floyd and the harassment of a Black birdwatcher in Central Park reinvigorated a petition to remove Confederate General John P. McCown’s name from a prairie bird, now known as the thick-billed longspur (Rhynchophanes mccownii).
The move was a recognition that names enshrining people also evoke their sometimes checkered legacies, which can draw focus from the birds and issues affecting them.
Rather than make case-by-case decisions that could embroil them in debate and controversy, the AOS opted to rename all eponymous birds, starting in the U.S. and Canada.
Though the process is sure to ruffle some feathers, the society says it hopes to produce more descriptive names and inspire wider, more diverse participation in birding.
No single body rules the roost when it comes to vernacular or common bird names.
However, as the largest ornithological society in the Western Hemisphere and publisher of the Check-list of North American Birds, the AOS exerts considerable influence in the field.
