From the Washington Put up, November 1, 2023: “The American Ornithological Society (AOU) says it’s going to alter the names of North American birds named after people, beginning with as much as 80 of them.” Their justifications are that the names are of individuals with detrimental reputations – endorsing or collaborating in slavery, for instance – and that the names aren’t descriptive. Let me ponder these causes a bit.

The statues of civil conflict heroes of the South, plaques bearing names of racists, and even Thomas Jefferson, a slave proprietor, have been eliminated in the previous few years. These monuments had been positioned there by civic teams or governments, representing numbers of individuals. Chicken names, like Scott’s Oriole, named after Main Basic Winfield Scott by Darius Sofa, a U.S. Civil Battle common, to commemorate his superior within the Mexican-American Battle, Basic Winfield Scott, had been named by one particular person. Are we to take away Scott’s title as a result of a Civil Battle determine named the chicken? LeConte’s sparrow was named by John James Audubon for John Lawrence Leconte, an entomologist. Ought to we take away the latter LeConte’s title from his sparrow as a result of Audubon honored him? And precisely how will we choose individuals who lived a century or extra in the past? A number of long-ago ornithologists shot birds, a number of them – how about eliminating their names? The entire enterprise will get tough.

The opposite cause the AOU desires to alter the names is that they don’t seem to be descriptive. Certain, Scott’s Oriole, LeConte’s Sparrow, and Clark’s Grebe don’t let you know a lot in regards to the chicken, however neither do the Widespread Crow, Widespread Tern, Whimbrel, Northern Flicker, Killdeer, or King Eider. Is the AOU going to alter all these names now? And what in regards to the Worldwide Ornithological Committee (IOC) that established the official English widespread names of all of the birds of the world? Are they going to just accept these title modifications?

And what about scientific names? Townsend’s Solitaire, named after John Kirk Townsend who collected skulls of Native People, has the scientific title Myadestes townsendi. To be constant in eliminating offensive names, that title needs to be modified as properly, however that requires going via the Worldwide Fee on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN).

I believe we should always simply go away the names as they’re. They replicate historical past and albeit, the opinion of 1 man (normally) who did the naming. And, I think, most birdwatchers don’t have a clue as to who these persons are. (Is Sabine offensive to you – are you aware who he’s?) Moreover the technical and moral points, each subject information, e book, and guidelines goes to should be modified. And life-listers aren’t going to be glad to should make these modifications. These are individuals who gripe as a result of the Pink-shafted and Yellow-shafted Glints acquired lumped into the Northern Flicker.

OK, I perceive the motivation and reasoning of those that wish to make these modifications. And there are many different areas of American society that may deserve these modifications – 1441 federally-recognized place-names comprise racist or sexist slurs. We’ve modified the names of sports activities groups however there are a whole lot of faculty buildings and faculty mascots that in all probability want altering.

However altering chicken names? Is that actually obligatory?

P.S. As I used to be scripting this weblog, considered one of my readers despatched me this remark:

“Really Adam named each animal on the planet  In response to God’s  Phrase  in Genesis chapter 2 verse 18 -20.”

That will remedy this entire subject of naming……