Editing Common name

{{Short description|Name generally used for a taxon, group of taxa or organism(s)}}
{{Hatnote group|
{{Other uses|Common name (disambiguation)|List of most popular given names}}
{{Distinguish|Proper noun{{!}}Common noun|Generic name (disambiguation)}}
}}
{{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>

== Use as part of folk taxonomy ==
{{Main article|Folk taxonomy|Nomenclature}}
A common name intrinsically plays a part in a classification of objects, typically an incomplete and informal classification, in which some names are [[Degeneracy (mathematics)|degenerate examples]] in that they are unique and lack reference to any other name, as is the case with say, ''[[ginkgo]]'', ''[[okapi]]'', and ''[[Honey badger|ratel]]''.<ref name= "isbn0-19-861271-0">{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Lesley |title=The New shorter Oxford English dictionary on historical principles |publisher=Clarendon |location=Oxford [Eng.] |year=1993 |isbn=0-19-861271-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/newshorteroxford00lesl }}</ref> [[Folk taxonomy]], which is a classification of objects using common names, has no formal rules and need not be consistent or [[Logic|logical]] in its assignment of names, so that say, not all flies are called flies (for example [[Braulidae]], the so-called "bee lice") and not every animal called a [[fly]] is indeed a fly (such as [[Dragonfly|dragonflies]] and [[Mayfly|mayflies]]).<ref name= "isbn1-86872-713-0">{{cite book |first1=Alan |last1=Weaving |first2=Mike |last2=Picker |last3=Griffiths |first3=Charles Llewellyn |title=Field Guide to Insects of South Africa |publisher=New Holland Publishers, Ltd |year=2003 |isbn=1-86872-713-0 }}</ref> In contrast, scientific or [[Biological classification|biological nomenclature]] is a global system that attempts to denote particular organisms or taxa uniquely and [[Wiktionary:definitive|definitively]], on the assumption that such organisms or taxa are [[well-defined]] and generally also have well-defined interrelationships;<ref name="Hawksworth2010">{{cite book|first=D. L. |last=Hawksworth|title=Terms Used in Bionomenclature: The Naming of Organisms and Plant Communities : Including Terms Used in Botanical, Cultivated Plant, Phylogenetic, Phytosociological, Prokaryote (bacteriological), Virus, and Zoological Nomenclature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qky7_6-UcQQC&pg=PA10|year=2010|publisher=GBIF|isbn=978-87-92020-09-3|pages=1–215}}</ref> accordingly the [[International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature|ICZN]] has formal rules for biological nomenclature and convenes periodic international meetings to further that purpose.<ref>{{cite book |last=Conklin |first=Harold C. |date=1980 |title=Folk Classification: A Topically Arranged Bibliography of Contemporary and Background References through 1971 |location=New Haven, CT |publisher=Yale University Department of Anthropology |isbn=0-913516-02-3}}</ref>

== Common names and the binomial system ==
The form of scientific names for organisms, called [[binomial nomenclature]], is superficially similar to the noun-adjective form of [[vernacular]] names or common names which were used by non-modern cultures. A collective name such as ''owl'' was made more precise by the addition of an adjective such as ''screech''.<ref>Stearn 1959, p. 6, 9.</ref> [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]] himself published a [[flora]] of his homeland Sweden, ''[[Flora Svecica]]'' (1745), and in this, he recorded the Swedish common names, region by region, as well as the scientific names. The Swedish common names were all binomials (e.g. plant no. 84 Råg-losta and plant no. 85 Ren-losta); the vernacular binomial system thus preceded his scientific binomial system.<ref>Stearn 1959, pp. 9–10.</ref>

Linnaean authority [[William T. Stearn]] said:

{{blockquote|By the introduction of his binomial system of nomenclature, Linnaeus gave plants and animals an essentially Latin nomenclature like vernacular nomenclature in style but linked to published, and hence relatively stable and verifiable, scientific concepts and thus suitable for international use.<ref>Stearn 1959, p. 10.</ref>}}

== Geographic range of use ==
The geographic range over which a particularly common name is used varies; some common names have a very local application, while others are virtually universal within a particular language. Some such names even apply across ranges of languages; the word for ''cat'', for instance, is easily recognizable in most [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] and many [[Romance languages]]. Many vernacular names, however, are restricted to a single country and colloquial names to local districts.<ref>{{cite journal |editor-last1=Brickell |editor-first1=C.D. |editor-last2=Baum |editor-first2=B.R. |editor-last3=Hetterscheid |editor-first3=W.J.A. |editor-last4=Leslie |editor-first4=A.C. |editor-last5=McNeill |editor-first5=J. |editor-last6=Trehane |editor-first6=P. |editor-last7=Vrugtman |editor-first7=F. |editor-last8=Wiersema |editor-first8=J.H. |date=2004 |title=International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants. |edition=7th |journal=Acta Horticulturae |volume=647 |series=Regnum Veg |number=144}}</ref>

Some languages also have more than one common name for the same animal. For example, in Irish, there are many terms that are considered outdated but still well-known for their somewhat humorous and poetic descriptions of animals.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2013-05-29 |title=What's In a Name? Interesting Animal Names in Irish |url=https://www.bitesize.irish/blog/interesting-animal-names/ |access-date=2023-12-30 |language=en-GB}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+Examples of Common Name Variations
!Scientific name
!English name
![[Irish language|Irish]] terms<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=bat - Translation to Irish Gaelic with audio pronunciation of translations for bat by New English-Irish Dictionary |url=https://www.focloir.ie/en/dictionary/ei/bat |access-date=2023-12-30 |website=www.focloir.ie}}</ref>
<small>w/ literal translations of the poetic terms</small>
|-
|''Vulpes vulpes''
|Red fox
|{{lang|ga|Madra rua}} ("red dog") or {{lang|ga|sionnach}}
|-
|''Lutra lutra''
|Otter
|{{lang|ga|Madra uisce}} ("water dog") or {{lang|ga|dobharchú}} 
|-
|''Canis lupus''
|Wolf
|{{lang|ga|Mac Tíre}} ("son of the land") or {{lang|ga|faolchú}}
|-
|''Chiroptera'' (order)
|Bats
|{{lang|ga|Sciathán leathair}} ("leather wing") or {{lang|ga|ialtóg}} 
|}

== Constraints and problems ==
Common names are used in the writings of both [[professional]]s and [[Layman|laymen]]. Lay people sometimes object to the use of scientific names over common names, but the use of scientific names can be defended, as it is in these remarks from a book on marine fish:<ref name="isbn1-86812-032-5">{{cite book |last1=Heemstra |first1=Phillip C. |last2=Smith |first2=Margaret |title=Smith's Sea Fishes |publisher=Southern Book Publishers |year=1999 |isbn=1-86812-032-5 }}</ref>
* Because ''common names often have a very local distribution'', the same fish in a single area may have several common names.
* Because of ''ignorance of relevant biological facts among the lay public'', a single species of fish may be called by several common names, because individuals in the species differ in appearance depending on their maturity, gender, or can vary in appearance as a morphological response to their natural surroundings, i.e. [[ecophenotypic variation]].
* In contrast to common names, formal [[Biological classification|taxonomic]] names imply ''biological relationships between similarly named creatures''.
* Because of ''incidental events, contact with other languages, or simple confusion'', common names in a given region will sometimes ''change with time''.
* In a book that lists over 1200 species of fishes<ref name="isbn1-86812-032-5"/> ''more than half have no widely recognised common name''; they either are too nondescript or too rarely seen to have earned any widely accepted common name.
* Conversely, a ''single common name often applies to multiple species'' of fishes. The lay public might simply not recognise or care about subtle differences in appearance between only very distantly related species.
* Many species that are rare, or lack economic importance, do not have a common name.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Walter S. |last1=Judd |first2=Christopher S. |last2=Campbell |first3=Elizabeth A. |last3=Kellog |first4=Peter F. |last4=Stevens |first5=Michael J. |last5=Donoghue |date=2008 |title=Plant Systematics: A Phylogenetic Approach |edition=3rd |publisher=Sinauer Associates, Inc. |location=Sunderland, MA |isbn=978-0878934072}}</ref>

== Coining common names ==
In scientific binomial nomenclature, names commonly are derived from [[Classical Latin|classical]] or [[Neo-Latin|modern]] [[Latin language|Latin]] or [[Greek language|Greek]] or [[Latinisation of names|Latinised]] forms of vernacular words or coinages; such names generally are difficult for laymen to learn, remember, and pronounce and so, in such books as field guides, biologists commonly publish lists of coined common names. Many examples of such common names simply are attempts to translate the scientific name into English or some other vernacular. Such translation may be confusing in itself, or confusingly inaccurate,<ref name="isbn0-8018-8221-4">{{cite book |last1=Reeder |first1=Deeann |last2=Wilson |first2=Don W. |title=Mammal Species of the World: a taxonomic and geographic reference |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore |year=2005 |isbn=0-8018-8221-4 }}</ref> for example, ''gratiosus'' does not mean "gracile" and ''gracilis'' does not mean "graceful".<ref name="CasselLatin">{{cite book |last1=Marchant |first1=J. R. V. |last2=Charles |first2=Joseph F. | title = Cassell's Latin Dictionary | publisher = Cassell | location = London | year = 1952  }}</ref><ref name="LatinTucker">{{cite book | last= Tucker |first=T. G.| title = A Concise Etymological Dictionary of Latin | publisher = Max Niemeyer Verlag | location = Halle (Saale)| year = 1931  }}</ref>

The practice of coining common names has long been discouraged; [[Alphonse de Candolle|de Candolle's]] ''Laws of Botanical Nomenclature'', 1868,<ref>{{cite book|last=de Candolle |first=A.|others=translated by [[Hugh Algernon Weddell]]|year=1868|title=Laws of Botanical Nomenclature adopted by the International Botanical Congress held at Paris in August 1867; together with an Historical Introduction and Commentary by Alphonse de Candolle, Translated from the French|publisher=L. Reeve and Co |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924001723604}} p. 36, 72</ref> the non-binding recommendations that form the basis of the modern (now binding) [[International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants]] contains the following:{{blockquote|Art. 68. Every friend of science ought to be opposed to the introduction into a modern language of names of plants that are not already there unless they are derived from a Latin botanical name that has undergone but a slight alteration. ... ought the fabrication of names termed vulgar names, totally different from Latin ones, to be proscribed. The public to whom they are addressed derives no advantage from them because they are novelties. [[John Lindley|Lindley's]] work, ''The Vegetable Kingdom,'' would have been better relished in England had not the author introduced into it so many new English names, that are to be found in no dictionary, and that do not preclude the necessity of learning with what Latin names they are synonymous. A tolerable idea may be given of the danger of too great a multiplicity of vulgar names, by imagining what geography would be, or, for instance, the Post-office administration, supposing every town had a totally different name in every language.}}

Various bodies and the authors of many technical and semi-technical books do not simply adapt existing common names for various organisms; they try to coin (and put into common use) comprehensive, useful, authoritative, and standardised lists of new names. The purpose typically is:

* to create names from scratch where no common names exist
* to impose a particular choice of name where there is more than one common name
* to improve existing common names
* to replace them with names that conform more to the relatedness of the organisms

Other attempts to reconcile differences between widely separated regions, traditions, and languages, by arbitrarily imposing nomenclature, often reflect narrow perspectives and have unfortunate outcomes. For example, members of the genus ''[[Burhinus]]'' occur in Australia, Southern Africa, Eurasia, and South America. A recent trend in field manuals and bird lists is to use the name "[[Stone-curlew|thick-knee]]" for members of the genus. This, in spite of the fact that the majority of the species occur in non-English-speaking regions and have various common names, not always English. For example, "Dikkop" is the centuries-old South African vernacular name for their two local species: ''[[Spotted thick-knee|Burhinus capensis]]'' is the Cape dikkop (or "gewone dikkop",<ref name="isbn0-624-00533-X">{{cite book |last1=Bosman |first1=D. B. |last2=Van der Merwe |first2=I. W. |last3=Hiemstra |first3=L. W. |name-list-style=amp |title=Tweetalige Woordeboek Afrikaans-Engels |publisher=Tafelberg-uitgewers |year=1984 |isbn=0-624-00533-X }}</ref> not to mention the presumably much older Zulu name "umBangaqhwa"); ''[[Water thick-knee|Burhinus vermiculatus]]'' is the "water dikkop".<ref name="isbn0-620-07681-X">{{cite book |last1=Lockwood |first1=Geoffrey |last2=Roberts |first2=Austin |last3=Maclean |first3=Gordon L. |last4=Newman |first4=Kenneth B. |title=Roberts' Birds of Southern Africa |publisher=Trustees of the J. Voelcker Bird Book Fund |location=Cape Town |year=1985 |isbn=0-620-07681-X }}</ref><ref name="isbn0-620-34053-3">{{cite book |last=Roberts |first=Austin |title=Roberts' Birds of Southern Africa |publisher=Trustees of the J. Voelcker Bird Book Fund |year=2005 |isbn=0-620-34053-3 }}</ref> The thick joints in question are not even, in fact, the birds' knees, but the [[Intertarsal articulations|intertarsal joints]]—in lay terms the ankles. Furthermore, not all species in the genus have "thick knees", so the thickness of the "knees" of some species is not of clearly descriptive significance. The family [[Stone-curlew|Burhinidae]] has members that have various common names even in English, including "[[stone curlew]]s",<ref name="ChristidisBoles2008">{{cite book|first1=Les |last1=Christidis |first2=Walter |last2=Boles|title=Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SFP9P1i-PoEC&pg=PA129|date=January 2008|publisher=Csiro Publishing|isbn=978-0-643-06511-6|pages=129–}}</ref> so the choice of the name "thick-knees" is not easy to defend but is a clear illustration of the hazards of the facile coinage of terminology.<ref name="isbn3-11-010661-2">{{cite book |translator-last=Scott |translator-first=Thomas A. |title=Concise Encyclopedia Biology |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |location=Berlin |year=1996 |isbn=3-11-010661-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/conciseencyclope00scot }}</ref>

== Lists that include common names ==

=== Lists of general interest ===

{{col-begin}}
{{col-3}}
;Plants
* [[List of plants by common name|Plant by common name]]
* [[List of garden plants|Garden plants]]
* [[List of culinary herbs and spices|Culinary herbs and spices]]
* [[List of poisonous plants|Poisonous plants]]
* [[List of plants in the Bible|Plants in the Bible]]
* [[List of vegetables|Vegetables]]
* [[List of useful plants|Useful plants]]

{{col-2}}
;Animals
* [[List of birds|Birds by region]]
* [[Lists of regional mammals|Mammals by region]]
* [[List of fish common names]]

{{col-3}}
;Plants and animals
* [[List of invasive species|Invasive species]]
{{col-end}}

=== Collective nouns ===
For [[collective noun]]s for various subjects, see a [[list of collective nouns]] (e.g. a flock of sheep, pack of wolves).

=== Official lists ===
Some organizations have created official lists of common names, or guidelines for creating common names, hoping to standardize the use of common names.

For example, the Australian Fish Names List or AFNS was compiled through a process involving work by taxonomic and seafood industry experts, drafted using the CAAB (Codes for Australian Aquatic Biota) taxon management system of the [[CSIRO]],<ref name = "CSIROFish"/> and including input through public and industry consultations by the [[Australian Fish Names Committee]] (AFNC). The AFNS has been an official Australian Standard since July 2007 and has existed in draft form (The Australian Fish Names List) since 2001.
[[Seafood Services Australia]] (SSA) serve as the Secretariat for the AFNC. SSA is an accredited Standards Australia (Australia's peak non-government standards development organisation) Standards Development<ref>[http://www.seafood.net.au/fishnames/standard.php Overview] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060923043721/http://www.seafood.net.au/fishnames/standard.php |date=2006-09-23 }}: Australian Fish Names Standard. Seafood Services Australia</ref>

The [[Entomological Society of America]] maintains a database of official common names of insects, and proposals for new entries must be submitted and reviewed by a formal committee before being added to the listing.<ref>[https://www.entsoc.org/common-names Common Names of Insects Database]</ref>

Efforts to standardize English names for the amphibians and reptiles of North America (north of Mexico) began in the mid-1950s.<ref name="Conant et al. (1956)">[[Roger Conant (herpetologist)|Conant, Roger]], Fred R. Cagle, Coleman J. Goin, [[Charles Herbert Lowe|Charles H. Lowe]], Jr., [[Wilfred T. Neill]], [[M. Graham Netting]], [[Karl Patterson Schmidt|Karl P. Schmidt]], Charles E. Shaw, [[Robert C. Stebbins]], and [[Charles Mitchill Bogert|Charles M. Bogert]]. 1956. ''Common names for North American amphibians and reptiles''. Copeia 1956: 172–185.</ref> The dynamic nature of [[Taxonomy (biology)|taxonomy]] necessitates periodical updates and changes in the nomenclature of both scientific and common names. The [[Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles]] (SSAR) published an updated list in 1978,<ref name="Collins (1978)">[[Joseph T. Collins|Collins, J.. T.]], J. E. Huheey, J. L. Knight, and [[Hobart Muir Smith|H. M. Smith]]. 1978. ''Standard and current scientific names for North American amphibians and reptiles.'' Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. Herpetological Circulars No. 7.</ref> largely following the previous established examples, and subsequently published eight revised editions ending in 2017.<ref name="Crother (2017)">Crother, Brian I. (Editor.). 2017. ''[https://ssarherps.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/8th-Ed-2017-Scientific-and-Standard-English-Names.pdf Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, 8th Edition.]'' Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. Herpetological Circular 43:1–102 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-946681-00-3}}</ref> More recently the SSAR switched to an online version with a searchable database.<ref name="SSAR Checklist">Society for the Study Amphibians and Reptiles: ''[https://ssarherps.org/publications/north-american-checklist/ Checklist of the Standard English Names of Amphibians & Reptiles.]'' (accessed August 2, 2022)</ref> Standardized names for the amphibians and reptiles of Mexico in Spanish and English were first published in 1994,<ref name="Liner (1994)">Liner, Ernest A. 1994. ''Scientific and common names for the amphibians and reptiles of Mexico in English and Spanish (Nombres científicos y comunes en ingles y español de los anfibios y los reptiles de México).'' Herpetological Circulars No. 23: v, 113 pp. {{ISBN|0-916984-32-X}}</ref> with a revised and updated list published in 2008.<ref name="Liner & Casas-Andreu (2008)">Liner, Ernest A. and Gustavo Casas-Andreu. 2008. ''Standard Spanish, English and scientific names of the amphibians and reptiles of Mexico.'' Society for the Study Amphibians and Reptiles. Herpetological Circular 38: iv, 162 pp.. {{ISBN|978-0-916984-75-5}}</ref>

A set of guidelines for the creation of English names for birds was published in ''[[The Auk]]'' in 1978.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Parkes |first=K.C. |year=1978 |title= A guide to forming and capitalizing compound names of birds in English|journal=[[The Auk]]|volume= 95|issue=2|pages= 324–326|doi=10.1093/auk/95.2.324|url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v095n02/p0324-p0326.pdf}}</ref>  It gave rise to ''[[Birds of the World: Recommended English Names]]'' and its Spanish and French companions.

The [[Academy of the Hebrew Language]] publish from time to time short dictionaries of common name in Hebrew for species that occur in Israel or surrounding countries e.g. for [[Reptilia]] in 1938, [[Osteichthyes]] in 2012, and [[Odonata]] in 2015.

== See also ==
* [[Folk taxonomy]]
* [[List of historical common names]]
* [[Scientific terminology]]
* [[:Category:Plant common names]]
* [[Specific name (zoology)]]

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist|35em}}

=== Sources ===
* [[William T. Stearn|Stearn, William T.]] (1959). "The Background of Linnaeus's Contributions to the Nomenclature and Methods of Systematic Biology". ''Systematic Zoology'' '''8''': 4–22.

== External links ==
{{wiktionary}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20081003051617/http://www.names-of-flowers.net/flowers-names.html Plant names]
*[https://www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au/Sorting/Frontpage.html Multilingual, Multiscript Plant Name Database]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060713073929/http://www.botany.utoronto.ca/courses/bot307/B_How/janename.html#common The use of common names]
*[https://www.thoughtco.com/chemical-names-of-common-substances-604013 Chemical Names of Common Substances]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100715075943/http://plantae2.librecanal.com/ Plantas medicinales / Medicinal plants (database)]

[[Category:Biological nomenclature]]
[[Category:Common names of organisms]]
[[Category:Flora without expected TNC conservation status]]