Editing Common name (section)

{{Short description|Name generally used for a taxon, group of taxa or organism(s)}}
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{{Other uses|Common name (disambiguation)|List of most popular given names}}
{{Distinguish|Proper noun{{!}}Common noun|Generic name (disambiguation)}}
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{{for|Wikipedia's policy on article titles|Wikipedia:Article titles#Use commonly recognizable names|selfref=y}}
[[File:Taxonomic Rank Graph.svg|alt=Taxonomy diagram for red fox. |thumb|378x378px|Common names (such as "red fox") are different across languages, whereas the scientific name does not change. ]]
In [[biology]], a '''common name''' of a [[taxon]] or [[organism]] (also known as a '''vernacular name''', English name, [[colloquialism|colloquial]] name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrasted with the [[binomial nomenclature|scientific name]] for the same organism, which is often based in [[Latin]]. A common name is sometimes frequently used, but that is not always the case.<ref name = "KruPug">{{cite book | last = Kruckeberg | first = Arthur | title = The Natural History of Puget Sound Country – Appendix I: The naming of plants and animals. | publisher = University of Washington Press | location = Seattle | year = 1991 | isbn = 978-0-295-97477-4 }}</ref>

In [[chemistry]], [[International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry|IUPAC]] defines a common name as one that, although it unambiguously defines a chemical, does not follow the current [[systematic name#chemistry|systematic naming]] convention, such as [[acetone]], systematically [[2-propanone]], while a vernacular name describes one used in a lab, trade or industry that does not unambiguously describe a single chemical, such as [[copper sulfate]], which may refer to either copper(I) sulfate or copper(II) sulfate.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/overview-of-chemical-names-608605|access-date=21 August 2022|title=The Differences Between Types of Chemical Names }}</ref>

Sometimes common names are created by authorities on one particular subject, in an attempt to make it possible for members of the general public (including such interested parties as fishermen, farmers, etc.) to be able to refer to one particular species of organism without needing to be able to memorise or pronounce the scientific name. Creating an "official" list of common names can also be an attempt to standardize the use of common names, which can sometimes vary a great deal between one part of a country and another, as well as between one country and another country, even where the same language is spoken in both places.<ref name = "CSIROFish">List of standardised Australian fish names – [http://www.marine.csiro.au/caab/namelist.htm November 2004 Draft] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160503030003/http://www.marine.csiro.au/caab/namelist.htm |date=2016-05-03 }}. [[CSIRO]]</ref>