Colonial legacies in eponymous species names: a global network perspective

Science is never created in a vacuum; it grows from the soil of the times and places where it is practiced. For centuries, the practice of naming new species of plants and animals has been a global enterprise, but one heavily shaped by the history of European exploration and empire. When a scientist discovers a new bird, they must give it a formal name, often following a set of rules established long ago. A common tradition in this naming process is to honor a person by attaching their name to the species, creating what is known as an eponym. This might be done to thank a patron who funded an expedition, to honor a colleague, or to recognize a family member. While this practice has long been a way to build community and record history, it has recently sparked intense debate. Critics argue that many of these names honor figures from colonial powers who exploited the very lands where the birds live, effectively erasing local knowledge and history. Proponents of keeping the names worry that changing them creates chaos in scientific records and ignores the contributions of scientists from all backgrounds. The question remains: how deeply is the history of colonialism woven into the names of the birds we see today, and is that pattern changing?

A team of researchers set out to answer this by looking at the names of birds across the entire globe. They examined the scientific names and common English names of nearly 11,200 bird species. Of these, they identified 2,416 species that carry a human name, which amounts to about 21 percent of all bird species on Earth. The researchers did not just count these names; they mapped them. They built a detailed picture of where each bird lives and compared that location to the home country of the person being honored in the name. They also developed a way to measure how much a specific country was influenced by different European empires, considering both how long the empire ruled there and how much of the land it controlled. This allowed them to see if there was a direct link between the history of colonization and the names given to the birds found in those regions.

The results revealed a striking mismatch. The vast majority of bird species named after people honor individuals who do not come from the country where the bird is found. Instead, the names most frequently honor people from Great Britain, France, and Germany. The data showed that the countries with the most bird species named after foreign figures were often former colonies, such as Indonesia, Peru, and Colombia. In contrast, the United States stood out as an exception, with a high number of birds named after Americans who lived in the same country as the birds. When the researchers looked at the timeline of when these names were created, they found a clear pattern. The number of new names honoring people from European empires surged during the 19th century, a period of rapid colonial expansion, and then began to taper off in the early 20th century.

The study found a strong statistical connection between the intensity of a country's colonial history and the number of bird names honoring people from that colonizing empire. The longer and more extensively a European power occupied a region, the more likely it was that birds in that region would be named after people from that power. However, the researchers noted that this relationship was not the same for every empire. Names honoring British and French citizens were widespread across many different countries, regardless of how deeply those specific countries were colonized. In contrast, names honoring Spanish and Belgian citizens were almost exclusively found in the specific regions those empires had controlled. This suggests that while the British and French were naming birds globally as part of a broader scientific culture, the Spanish and Belgian naming practices were more tightly bound to their direct colonial territories.

The researchers also looked at who these people were. Most of the names honored scientists, naturalists, and military officers. The study confirmed that the peak of this naming trend coincided with the height of colonial expansion, when European explorers and collectors were actively gathering specimens from around the world. However, the story is not entirely static. The data showed a shift in recent decades. Since 1950, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of new bird species named after people who are native to the countries where the birds live. This includes local scientists, conservationists, and indigenous leaders. While the overall number of new species descriptions has declined, the proportion of names honoring local people has grown. This suggests that the practice of naming birds is slowly evolving to reflect a more diverse and inclusive scientific community, moving away from the exclusive focus on European figures that characterized the colonial era.

Despite these positive shifts, the legacy of the past remains dominant. The study highlights that the current naming system still carries the weight of history, with a significant portion of the world's birds bearing names that honor people from distant, former colonial powers. The researchers emphasize that their work does not argue for or against changing these names, but rather provides a clear, data-driven picture of the current situation. By mapping the connections between colonial history and bird names, they have provided a foundation for ongoing discussions about how to handle these names in the future. The findings show that while the scientific community is beginning to recognize and honor local voices, the names on the books today still tell a story of global power dynamics that played out centuries ago.