Below are responses (kept anonymous) re: my query about capitalizing common
names. As suspected, birds are "unique." - Scott

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I'm all for capitalizing common names IF there is agreement on what they
are.  Capitalization implies (to me, at least) that they have been
determined by some widely-accepted and appropriate process.  They've been
"certified," so to speak.

 

But, the problem with common names (esp. for plants) as we all know, is that
there is no accepted or conventional usage.  What is tulip poplar to one
person is yellow poplar to another and tulip tree to a third.

So, until plant common names are standardized (which will never happen), I'm
quite content to use lower case.

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Its true that bird common names are normally capitalized, though this has
not been so for at least mammals, and probably many other taxa. A friend and
mentor of mine recently gave me a compelling argument that, editorial
traditions be damned, we should simply capitalize all common names. Is a
pygmy rabbit just a very small rabbit of some unspecified kind, or a species
as clearly denoted by Pygmy Rabbit? Is a vagrant shrew an extralimital shrew
record of some undesignated species--or is it a Vagrant Shrew?

 

I think my friend is right, and capitalizing all common names is the right
way to go and the wave of the future. He gave several examples in which
recent field guides etc. have been breaking with the non-capitalization
tradition, and editors have been coming around to the idea. I say we should
do what makes the most sense to us, and push this envelope.

 

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I too do not capitalize common names, and I have also noticed this
difference between the "plant" and "animal worlds". I would suggest however
that capitalization may indeed be the way to go when in comes to
conservation...more caps = more implied importance?

The American Ornithologists' Union does indeed have an 'official'  

system of capitalization of common names of bird species, as listed formally
in the AOU Check-list (http://www.aou.org/checklist/ index.php3); the same
system is used by the British Ornithologists'  

Union for species in their part of the world.

 

This system is used not just in field guides but also by most ornithological
journals: Auk, Condor, Wilson Bulletin, Journal of Field Ornithology, Ibis,
etc. (though not Journal of Avian Biology).

 

The system calls for capitalization of each word in the common name when
referring to a single species. If the terminal part of the name (which often
refers to a larger group of species to which the species in question
belongs) is a hyphenated compound word, both component words get capitalized
(this is the AOU system; in the BOU check-list, only the first word of the
compound word is capitalized). If the name includes a hyphenated compound
word that precedes the terminal part of the name, only the first word of
that compound word gets capitalized.

 

Thus ...

 

      Mallard, Canada Goose, Northern Cardinal

      Black-capped Chickadee, Chestnut-sided Warbler

      Island Scrub-Jay  (The scrub-jay group, as currently recognized,
includes three species, Island, Western, and Florida. These form a closely
related subset (clade) within a larger genus, Aphelocoma.)

 

Both rules for compound words can apply to a single species:

 

      Black-crowned Night-Heron, White-faced Storm-Petrel

 

A few species have names that include more than two words. All get
capitalized.

 

      Great Blue Heron, Great Horned Owl

 

When referring to multiple species in the same group, the group name does
not get capitalized. Thus ...

 

      Black-capped and Carolina chickadees, Florida and Western scrub-jays

--

 

Funny, I asked about two weeks ago our in house editor (every department
should have one), and she explained exactly what you said. Official names
and proper nouns capitalized, rest in lower case.

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I am an editor of biological publications and I frequently come across this
issue.  It is absolutely not your imagination that zoological common names
tend to more often be capitalized than botanical common names, and that
authors with different taxonomic backgrounds tend to treat this issue
differently.  I also think you are correct about the field guides using caps
for emphasis.  My rule of thumb has also been to capitalize proper names,
with lowercase for all others, regardless of taxa.

 

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As I understand it, the American Ornithological Union standard is to
capitalize all common names of specific birds, e.g., Canada Goose and
Greater White-fronted Goose, but to not capitalize when talking about groups
of species, e.g., geese, quail.  As far as I know, all other taxonomic
organizations do not capitalize common names unless it is a proper noun --
so you have mule deer and Roosevelt elk.  When writing for publication, I go
by this latter rule even for birds.

 

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In fact, one point of consternation among birders is that the common names
of the species may change as they are redefined by the standardizing body
(e.g., Green Heron -->  Green-backed Heron --> Green Heron again).

 

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I've heard that common names are capitalized for birds because these names
are standardized by the American Ornithologists' Union or some other body.
Hence, they are "official" names for that species, as opposed to
un-standardized common names often given to plants or other organisms.  In
other words, they are as precise (and official) as a Latin name.

 

 

---

Scott Ruhren, Ph.D.

Senior Director of Conservation

Audubon Society of Rhode Island

12 Sanderson Road

Smithfield, RI 02917-2600

 

401-949-5454

 

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