Species with Multiple Common Names (Competition)

Species with Multiple Common Names

I’m interested in compiling a list of species that have multiple common names.

I’m aware there’s thousands, so I’m mostly looking for those who don’t share a component of the common name e.g. Killer whale vs Orca (5 points) is worth more points than Brown capuchin vs Black-capped capuchin (1 point).

Of particular interest are names that are considered outdated and no longer in general use.

A few examples to get started:

Orca vs Killer whale
Wildebeest vs Gnu
African wild dog vs Painted wolf
Bonobo vs Pygmy chimpanzee
Blackbuck vs Indian antelope
Brolga vs Australian crane
Alsatian vs German shepherd
Red panda vs Red bear-cat
Guinea pig vs Domestic cavy

9 x 5 = 45 points

False gharial vs Sunda gharial
Spectacled bear vs Andean bear

2 x 1 = 2 points

Total = 47 points

 

Bear cat vs binturong
Cougar vs mountain lion vs puma vs catamount vs etc.
Caribou vs Reindeer
Greater One-horned Rhino vs Indian Rhino
Nile hippo vs River hippo
Slender-horned Gazelle vs Rhim Gazelle
Racoon dog vs tanuki

 

How many points do I get for?:

Puma vs Cougar vs Panther vs Purple Feather vs Mountain Lion vs Catamount vs American Lion vs Deer Killer vs Deer Tiger vs Ghost Walker vs Mountain Devil vs Painter vs Red Tiger vs Mexican Devil

 

There are tons out there. Like you said, a lot of them are slight variations. I've heard African wild dog as painted wolf, but growing up the name I heard used most often was Cape hunting dog. Here are some names - some, like Komodo and Pere David's, are native names that some folks use instead of "colonial names" - others, like hamadryad for king cobra, are ones that I've never seen anyone actually use in a modern sense, but only in old books

Amazon River Dolphin - Boto
Binturong - Bearcat
Bearded Vulture - Lammergeier
Bowmouth Guitarfish - Shark Ray
Collared Peccary - Javenila
False Gharial - Tomistoma
King Cobra - Hamadryad
Impeyan Pheasant - Himalayan Monal
Long-Tailed Duck - Old Squaw
Mara - Cavy
Pallas' Cat - Manul
Arapaima - Pirarucu
Puma - .... literally everything
Rhinoceros Viper - River Jack
Saola - Vu Quong Ox
Ethiopian Wolf - Simian Jackal
Hellbender - Allegheny Alligator, Snot Otter
Wisent - European Bison
Meerkat - Suricate
Raccoon Dog - Tanuki
Pere David's Deer - Milu
Komodo Dragon - Ora

 

Also, bushbaby - galago

 

I didn't see tanuki was already taken, so here's European legless lizard - scheltopusik

 

There are an enormous number to choose from: just a few additional ones:

chousingha - four horned antelope
chiru - Tibetan antelope
goa - Tibetan gazelle
dzeren - Mongolian gazelle
hirola - Hunter’s hartebeest
kongoni - hartebeest
Nile lechwe - Mrs. Grey's antelope
saola - Vu Quang ox
bushbuck - harnessed antelope
bluebuck - blaubok
giant eland - Lord Derby's eland
mouse deer - chevrotain
chital - axis deer
milu - Pere David's deer
barasingha - swamp deer
brow antlered deer - Eld's deer
Prince Alfred’s deer - Philippine spotted deer
muriqui - woolly spider monkey
warrah - Falkland Island wolf
brown hyaena - strandwolf
thylacine- Tasmanian tiger - Tasmanian wolf

 

You can give yourself five points for each of those - plus an additional point for finding the species with the most common names.

 

I particularly like the old-fashioned name
"zebra-opossum" for this species

 

who called red panda "red bear-cat" in English

Bearcat=binturong

 

Bharal - Blue sheep

 

Wikipedia does:

Red panda - Wikipedia

It is also called the lesser panda, the red bear-cat, and the red cat-bear.

I know someone from China who calls them raccoons. I don’t know what she would call a Common raccoon.

 

rock dove - rock pigeon - common pigeon
moose - elk
Japanese macaque - snow monkey
coypu - nutria
western capercaillie - wood grouse - heather cock - cock of the woods

 

I'm surprised this one hasn't been mentioned:

snow leopard - ounce -irbis

Others are:
mountain beaver - sewellel
white-billed diver - yellow-billed loon
great northern diver - common loon
black-throated diver - arctic loon
Pacific diver - Pacific loon
red-throated diver - red-throated loon
duckbill - duckmole - platypus

 

Calling red panda as raccoons is just wrong. The chinese name for red panda is indeed "小熊貓", which is red bear-cat. (and yes, a giant panda is "大熊貓" which means big bear cat, and the binturong is "熊狸" which is bear-civet.)

But i've never heard anyone speaking English called red panda as red bear-cat.

 

I call them either red pandas or Nepalese red pandas if referring to Australasia’s red pandas (we no longer have the Chinese subspecies).

But if it’ll make you happy...

Red bear-cat, Red bear-cat, Red bear-cat, RED BEAR-CAT!!!

Now you can say you’ve heard an English speaking person call them red bear-cats.

 

Great Skua - Bonxie
Black Guillemot - Tystie
Great Northern Diver - Common Loon
Arctic Skua - Parasitic Jaeger
Common Guillemot - Common Murre

and then there are birder’s abbreviations, such as Mipit for Meadow Pipit, which can get clever, such as Commic Tern, for unidentifiable Common or Arctic Tern. Probably the best is Pallas’ Grasshopper Warbler, a rare British vagrant with pale tips on the tail feathers - PG Tips (a brand of tea!)

 

American Bison = Buffalo (very surprised that nobody mentioned it)
Alpine Ibex = Tur
Wapiti = Elk (this last name is very problematic, because it's also the name of the Moose. Is it possible to assume that the Elk is Eurasian and the Moose is American ???)
Reindeer = Caribou (already mentioned but I add that the 1st is Eurasian and the 2d American?)
Asiatic Black Bear = Moon Bear
Siberian Tiger = Amur Tiger
African Penguin = Jackass Penguin

 

Oh boy there are a ton of these for fish, many fish have several names, many of which incorrectly call the fish something it isn't (many groupers are called cod for example), as you can see from the name list for Narrow-Barred Spanish Mackerel (it is in fact a mackerel, despite some of it's common names). Commonly fished species seem to be particularly prone to having way too many names.

Queensland Grouper - Giant Grouper - Brindle Grouper - Brindle Bass - Mottled Brown Sea Bass

Largetooth Beardie - Beardie - Beardie Cod - Kelp Rock Cod - Ling Codfish - Rock Cod

Klein's Butterflyfish - Blacklip Butterflyfish - Sunburst Butterflyfish - Klein's Coralfish

Panther Grouper - Barramundi Cod - Humpback Grouper

Ocean Jacket - Chinaman Leatherjacket - Leatherjonnie - Chunks - Yellow Leatherjacket

Globefish - Blow Up - Slender-Spined Porcupinefish - Southern Porcupinefish

Australian Pineconefish - Australian Pineapplefish - Coat Of Mail Fish - Knightfish - Port-And-Starboard Lightfish - West Australian Knight Fish

Big-Bellied Seahorse - Potbellied Seahorse - Eastern Potbelly Seahorse - Southern Knight Seahorse

Narrow-Barred Spanish Mackerel - Spanish Mackerel - Albacore - Snook - Spaniard - Tanguigue - Doggy - Banded Tuna - Giant Mackerel - Leaping Tuna - Mack - Macko - Kingfish

Yellowtail Kingfish - Albacore - Hoodlum - Kahu - Silver King - Californian Yellowtail - Kingie - Bandit - Tasmanian Yellowtail - Yellowtail Amberjack - King Amberjack - Southern Yellowtail - Yellowtail

Mackerel Tuna - Bonito - Jack Mackerel - Kawakawa - Little Tuna - Little Tunny

Humphead Maori Wrasse - Humphead Wrasse - Maori Wrasse - Napoleonfish - Giant Maori Wrasse - Double-Headed Parrotfish - Blue-Tooth Groper - Double-Headed Maori Wrasse

Giant Trevally - Barrier Trevally - Lowly Trevally - GT - Giant Kingfish

Port Jackson Shark - Dogshark - Bullhead - Horn Shark - Oyster-Crusher - Pigfish - Tabbigaw

Bluespotted Lagoon Ray - Bluespotted Ribbontail Ray - Bluespotted Fantail Ray - Reef Ray - Fantail Ray - Lesser Fantail Ray

Australian Ghostshark - Elephantfish - Makorepe - Reperepe - Southern Chimaera - Whitefish - White Fillets - Silver Fish - Elephant Shark - Ghost Shark - Plough-Nose Chimaera

Western Sea Carp - Cockatoo Morwong - Stinky Groper

Goblin Shark - Elfin Shark

 

Honey Badger- Ratel
Eurasian Magpie- Common Magpie
Proboscis Monkey- Long-Nosed Monkey
Spangled Kookaburra- Aru Giant Kingfisher
Gray Crowned Crane- East African Crane
Blue Crane- Stanley Crane
Great Hornbill- Concave-Casqued Hornbill
Red-Billed Leiothrix- Pekin Robin
Spotted Hyena- Laughing Hyena
Pig-Nosed Turtle- Fly River Turtle
Bobcat- Red Lynx
Dwarf Cassowary- Bennet's Cassowary
Short-Eared Owl- Pueo (only applies for Hawaiian subspecies)
Hawaiian Goose- Nene
Osprey- Fish Hawk
American Flamingo- Caribbean Flamingo
Marabou Stork- Undertaker Bird
Abyssinian Ground Hornbill- Northern Ground Hornbill
Indian Peafowl- Common Peafowl, Blue Peafowl
Northern Bobwhite- Virginia Quail
Freshwater Crocodile- Johnson's Crocodile
Bali Mynah- Rothschild's Mynah
Inland Taipan- Small-Scaled Snake
Kinkajou and Sun Bear- Honey Bear