Common Names

"And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.  And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field . . . . (Genesis 2:19-20).

I've always wondered what language Adam used to name all the animals.  And did he name all the plants and flowers and algae and bacteria as well?  If I think like a Biblical literalist, I would have to believe so, even though the Bible is largely silent on things like Pigweed Flea Beetles, for example.

But perhaps like other great origin tales, Adam is a representative of the naming spirit of people, not of a person.  If so, then many scientists, including Dennis Paulson  and Sidney Dunkle, are Adams. 

Paulson and Dunkle, "discussing the need to encourage wider studies of dragonflies by amateur naturalists, attempted to generate a set of common names for the North American fauna" (Paulson, 2012, 32).  Published, criticized, revised, and adopted, that list is now in wide use as a complement to the scientific names of Odonata.

This fellow, for example, is Pacydiplax longipennis. 

That's quite a mouthful, isn't it?  Especially for this lively little dragonfly.  Imagine seeing one, obelisking as he is, and exclaiming, "Look! A Pachydiplax longipennis turning his abdomen to the sun to minimize exposure to the burning rays!"

As for me, I prefer something like this, "Look at that clever little Blue Dasher doing his cool-down pose!" 

Thanks to Paulson and  Dunkle (and countless others who contributed to their naming) I can enjoy the poetry (Halloween Pennant) and familiarity (Great Blue Skimmer) of the Odes I photograph.


Paulson, D.  Dragonflies and damselflies of the East.  2011.  Princeton: Princeton University Press.