What’s in a name? For birds, the scientific, or Latin, name is selected by the person who discovers and describes a species, but the common name evolves organically and can differ regionally. The name may honor someone (Wilson’s snipe), refer to the place of first discovery (Cape May warbler) or capture some element of the bird’s appearance (scarlet tanager), sounds (killdeer) or biology (barn swallow).
Lots of birds have the word “common” in their title, but why? Common yellowthroats are found all over North America and are truly common in the sense that there are a lot of them. Common grackles, although declining, have always been very common in most of the country. But “common” in the sense of being plentiful, does not always explain why the name arose. Common terns, for example, are not the most common terns. Common loons are not very common at all. And most Americans will never see a common snipe or common sandpiper unless they travel to the most remote islands off of Alaska.
Why do all of these birds have the word “common” in their names, along with common nighthawk, common goldeneye, common gallinule, common murre, common merganser, common raven, common redpoll and dozens of other species?
It may be because “common” has so many meanings beyond the obvious reference to great abundance. Common also refers to being shared across continents; for example, the way the common loon and the common tern are found in both Europe and North America. Perhaps early ornithologists were impressed to find some familiar species in the New World.
Another, less common, meaning of “common” is the meadow in the center of town where sheep and cows grazed on shared land. This would have been a great place to see common snipe and common sandpipers in old European towns.
Or maybe something meaner is intended. “Common” can also be an insult, suggesting a lack of sophistication. This may have been another motivation for naming urban birds such as the common swift, which shares habitats with bats and chimney sweeps.
It seems odd that such common use of “common” in the common names of so many different bird species has no common etymology. There is, it seems, no common explanation at play.
Dan Cristol teaches in the biology department at William &Mary and can be contacted at dacris@wm.edu. To discover local birding opportunities visit williamsburgbirdclub.org.
