A brief history of English bird names and the American Ornithologists’ Union (now American Ornithological Society)

Abstract

AbstractEnglish bird names exist to increase the effectiveness of communication and to make ornithology more accessible to English speakers and readers. This purpose was recognized from the first edition of the Check-list, when it was considered important to include both a vernacular and technical name for each taxon. Every edition of the Check-list and its Supplements have thus included English names. Improving communication is an important job, and to be most effective a single name usually has to be chosen, especially among birds with widespread distributions and many vernacular names. The Check-list has been the standard for North America for over a century, and it provides the formal scientific basis for avian diversity and its management and conservation across most of the continent. Choices for the English names given in the Check-list have been made under clear criteria and guidelines that are responsive both to increased scientific knowledge and implicitly to changing societal mores. For more than a century, and for many different reasons, many people have been unhappy with choices made about English bird names and about the underlying processes. From the published history alone, it is clear that no process will achieve global consensus, yet there remain many merits to a standardized and widely adopted approach to English bird names. Consideration of these issues in a broader context of linguistics, culture, and history is also warranted.