Petition to AOS Leadership on the Recent Decision to Change all Eponymous Bird Names (4 Viewers)

[Andy Adcock]

Are we talking about Latin or common names?

Common, that's the talking point.

 

[Jim LeNomenclatoriste]

Common, that's the talking point.

I have no answer on that

 

[Andy Adcock]

I think the big problem is just trying to come up with a single, 'official' name, you can have 1000's of columns in excel so there's no real need for it.

There's actually quite a few Maori names which are used internationally & are the 'official' English name - Kea, Kakapo, Kaka, Kiwi, Kokako, Weka etc. and many others are being used colloquially more & more. But yep, it would be weird in, say a list of species of shearwater of the world to have Titi or Rako thrown in there but if you added another column I don't see why you couldn't.

Are you proposing a document with a column for EVERY, language? As I said, if there was an active and thriving community of indigenous birders in any country, a dual list might be useful and practical but that's not the reality is it? What you'll get, as I said before, is a small group of people, wanting to make a statement, what stops the production of an exclusively Maori or Hawaiian list for speakers of that language?

What, when someone comes along and wants names in some Native American language, where do we stop because, if we don't stop, you can't call it an 'English' name list'?

People might argue and with some justification in my opinion, that 'they' are not Hawaiians or Maoris and want to use English names? The problem will be that people who want names in English, even though that is the stated intention and mandate of the list makers will get called xenophobes by a small number and the same arguments will ensue.

You'll just have to find some non-white people who were involved in the genocide of white people or the taking of their land, destruction of their culture & language, kept white people as slaves & never looked at a bird in their lives but somebody thought they should have a bird named after them! 😁

Let's not forget that not every name on the list are of questionable character but you want to throw the baby out with the bath water. An argument has been put forward that each case be weighed on it's own merits but that's not good enough for some. So that's that then, zero eopnyms and I'll never see my 'Wonder Warbler'.

 

[dantheman]

Let's not forget that not every name on the list are of questionable character but you want to throw the baby out with the bath water. An argument has been put forward that each case be weighed on it's own merits but that's not good enough for some. So that's that then, zero eopnyms and I'll never see my 'Wonder Warbler'.

A Bird called Wonder?

Never going to happen, or perhaps they could bring John Cleese and Jamie Lee Curtis back. A tale of murder, lust, greed, revenge, and gratuitous eponyms ...

 

[Andy Adcock]

A Bird called Wonder?

Never going to happen, or perhaps they could bring John Cleese and Jamie Lee Curtis back. A tale of murder, lust, greed, revenge, and gratuitous eponyms ...

What does this even mean?

 

[jts1882]

An allusion to the film A Fish Called Wanda.

 

[Jim LeNomenclatoriste]

'Wonder Warbler'.

And its lasso of truth ?

 

[Andy Adcock]

And its lasso of truth ?

Piano.

 

[Lerxst]

AFO Member feedback on the decision from AOS to replace all eponymous bird names – Association of Field Ornithologists

afonet.org

 

[Lerxst]

Recent, relevant paper worth a read. Over 1,500 names on the author list, with a a diverse international flavor, calling for stability in biological nomenclature.

Protecting stable biological nomenclatural systems enables universal communication: A collective international appeal

Abstract. The fundamental value of universal nomenclatural systems in biology is that they enable unambiguous scientific communication. However, the stabil

academic.oup.com

 

[raymie]

Recent, relevant paper worth a read. Over 1,500 names on the author list, with a a diverse international flavor, calling for stability in biological nomenclature.

Protecting stable biological nomenclatural systems enables universal communication: A collective international appeal

Abstract. The fundamental value of universal nomenclatural systems in biology is that they enable unambiguous scientific communication. However, the stabil

academic.oup.com

Many will say this paper is meaningless because it is relevant only to scientific names. But I would argue that in birds, common names are more important than scientific names due to their standardized nature and the fact that most people interested in birds have little to no familiarity with the binomials.

 

[jts1882]

Not really sure where to put this news, without reigniting debate. It's news about the International Botanical Congress meeting to consider changes to the rules on nomenclature and whether to change inappropriate names. It's encouraging they are going to have an open discussion rather than blindside members with an edict from above.

Many plant names are offensive: botanists will vote on whether to change them

Researchers at an international meeting will also consider how to monitor names that have problematic roots.

www.nature.com

Every six to seven years, taxonomists meet at a conference called the International Botanical Congress to consider changes to the rules for naming plants, as well as fungi and algae (a separate group is responsible for animal names). Later this week, members of the Nomenclature Section will vote on two proposals that deal with culturally sensitive names.

New plant species are typically named by the scientists who discover them, with a key requirement that a description appears in scientific literature. During the nineteenth and even well into the twentieth centuries, the mostly European scientists formally naming species found in the non-Western world often recognized colonial rulers, such as the politician Cecil Rhodes, and patrons.

One of the proposals aims to rename an estimated 218 species whose scientific names are based on the word caffra and various derivatives — which are ethnic slurs often used against Black people in southern Africa — and to replace it with derivatives of ‘afr’ to instead recognize Africa. The second proposal, if approved, would create a committee to reconsider offensive and culturally inappropriate names.

 

[Peter Kovalik]

Winker, Kevin (2024) Bird names as critical communication infrastructure in the contexts of history, language, and culture. Zootaxa 5486: 151-181.
Bird names as critical communication infrastructure in the contexts of history, language, and culture | Zootaxa

Abstract
Standardized taxonomies and lists of birds were created to improve communication. They are linguistic infrastructure―biodiversity indices and dictionaries―that have been painstakingly built and maintained and that have enhanced regional and global participation in the study and enjoyment of birds. Inclusion of people has been a core objective in creating and maintaining these standardized lists, and dissatisfaction and desires to overwrite objectionable names have been associated with them for nearly two centuries. Suggestions that bird names should be changed are continuous. Today, these suggestions include the view that some bird names must be changed to make them more accurate, inoffensive, and culturally appropriate to further increase diversity and inclusion among ornithologists and bird watchers. The latter, meritorious goal has been largely successful thus far despite many ongoing objections. Historic examples indicate that large-scale name changes, however, are not needed to accomplish major societal goals of inclusion. Some barriers to inclusion likely remain, and some changes are likely needed for English names. Often overlooked or underappreciated in name change discussions are that: 1) standardized names lists have had numerically staggering success in fostering inclusion of diverse participants globally; 2) stability is vital in such systems, and destabilization has exclusionary effects; 3) dissatisfaction with such lists and the names they include has been ongoing since these naming systems began; 4) important flexibilities exist in conjunction with these communication systems that enhance local and regional communication (e.g., alternative names in English and other languages); and 5) cultural values, important as they are, are neither universally shared nor constant, and thus risk bringing divisiveness and instability when used as a central reason for change. Consideration of standardized lists of bird names as communication systems in the fuller context of history, language, and culture will improve our management of these systems and their continued utility in fostering inclusion. With standardized, stable naming systems acting as a skeleton, proactively building outwards, both within and among languages and cultures, offers a positive and productive way to increase inclusion and to improve cultural and biodiversity conservation.

 

[Xenospiza]

Point 2 is quite true: just look at the reactions on BF towards people who use the names from their bird books, such as "Common Snipe".
"They are a disaster for ebird validators".

 

[raymie]

Scientific name changes are real now, at least for botany:

Botanists Vote to Remove Racial Slur From Hundreds of Plant Species Names

In a first for taxonomy, researchers opted to change scientific names containing derivatives of the slur “caffra” to derivatives of “afr,” in reference to the plants' origins in Africa

www.smithsonianmag.com