Species names - Swedish vernacular names

The Steering Committee of the Swedish Taxonomy Initiative has decided that all organisms given a full presentation in the Encyclopedia of the Swedish Flora and Fauna should have a Swedish vernacular name. To this end, the Steering Committee has appointed the Swedish Vernacular Name Committee Kommittén för svenska djurnamn, the inaugural meeting of which was held in 2004-03-11. The task of this committee is to establish Swedish vernacular names for (at least primarily) Nordic species. The Taxonomical Committee of the Swedish Ornithological Society is, however, primarily responsible for the Swedish bird names. In the same way, the Working Group for Swedish Vernacular Plant Names within the Swedish Botanical Society, are responsible for the vernacular names of vascular plants, bryophytes, algae, lichens and fungi. The Swedish names accepted by the Swedish Vernacular Name Committee are normative within the Swedish Taxonomy Initiative, the Species Gateway and in other material issued by the Swedish Species Information Centre. It is also to be hoped that they will acquire general acceptance, also outside the context of the Swedish Taxonomy Initiative.

Guidelines for Swedish vernacular names

The Swedish Vernacular Name Committee is primarily concerned with vernacular names of species and families. Other taxonomic levels (e.g. genera) are only considered when there is a special reason for doing so. The principles below serve as guidelines in the work with creating new vernacular names. They are, however, not absolutely rigid – a certain amount of flexibility is permissible.

1. Already established vernacular names should, if possible, remain unaltered.
   In the case of common, well-known species this is a very weighty principle. Obviously misleading names, and names of poorly known species, may be altered more easily. Minor linguistic alterations and abbreviations may also be acceptable, provided that it is obvious that the new and the old names refer to the same species.


2. The names should reflect e.g. external appearance, habitat choice, characteristic behaviour, calls etc.
   For preference, these traits should be observable without the use of technically advanced equipment.


3. The names should not be misguiding.
   Names that, for instance, indicate the wrong host plant should be changed, unless they are very well established (c.f. paragraph 1).


4. The names should be linguistically correct, and in accordance with the Swedish word formation system.


5. The names should be as brief as possible.


6. The names should be easy to pronounce.


7. The names should, for preference, consist of only one word.
   This should be achieved by finding alternative terms rather than adding an adjective to the main name.


8. Names that may easily be confused with the name of another species should be avoided.


9. Self-contradicting (oxymoronic) names should be avoided.


10. Personal names should be avoided.


11. The vernacular names may be inspired by, but preferably not copies of the scientific names.
    If the scientific name is altered in the future, there will no longer be any justification for the vernacular name. Besides, the scientific name often has no meaning to the general public (although a Latinised vernacular name may make it easier to remember the scientific name).


12. The names may be humorous and fanciful, but they must not cause ridicule or offence.


13. The names should have positive rather than negative connotations.


14. The names should be timeless.
    Names such as “common”, “Danish” etc. should be avoided, as the frequency and distribution of a species may change quite rapidly.


15. “Great” and “small” are preferable to “greater” and “lesser”. The use of these adjectives should, however, preferably be avoided.
    In a text it may, for instance, be unclear whether the adjective “small” is part of the name, or refers to the size of an individual specimen.


16. Already extant vernacular names from the other Nordic countries should be taken into account, as Nordic unity with regard to vernacular names is preferable.


17. The individual components of compound names should be easily identifiable.


18. The name may well provide hints about the taxonomy, but there is no need to reflect the taxonomy completely.


19. There is no need for an exact correspondence between generic vernacular and scientific names. The vernacular names should be able to “survive” taxonomical re-classifications.


20. The vernacular name used for a group of species (e.g. a genus) should not, at the same time, be used as the name of an individual species within that group.


21. If several higher taxa (e.g. class, order and family) within an organism group are given vernacular names, the names should not be identical.