Every living organism has a two-part Latin scientific name, the genus and species. This standardization allows scientists anywhere in the world, no matter their native tongue, to discuss plants and animals with other scientists. This is not always true with common names, especially with plants. Botanists rarely use common names at all. Fortunately, the usage of common names of birds is acceptable, and used by both lay people and scientists.
Cassin's Vireo
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If you have been birding for any length of time, you've seen the names of birds change, and it's sometimes hard to keep up with the current nomenclature. Bird names can change due to changes in taxonomy because of DNA research, where species are split into several species or lumped into one, or can change when one name is found to be an earlier designation. The earlier name is said to have "the law of priority."
My 1941 edition of the Peterson "Field Guide to Western Birds" has Pileolated Warbler (now Wilson's Warbler), Duck Hawk (now Peregrine Falcon), and Baldpate (now American Wigeon). In my birding career I've seen our White-tailed Kite go to Black-shouldered Kite, and then back to White-tailed; Rufous-sided and Brown Towhees change to Spotted and California; and four species of Junco lumped into Dark-eyed, among others. Sometimes, my other gray-headed birding friends will slip and use the old name in the field. We know what they mean, and tend to let it pass, unless someone asks, for example, "what's a Solitary Vireo?" (now split into Cassin's, Plumbeous, and Blue-headed). It's certainly a good argument for you to buy the newest edition field guide available.
Yellow-headed Blackbird
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The official names of birds in North America is determined by the American Ornithological Union (AOU), and they have also made seemingly insignificant changes, like dropping the "d" from Widgeon, or taking the hyphen out of Wren-tit.
Many birds were named in the early days of exploration on this continent by the naturalists who first found (and usually collected), and described the bird. It is considered bad form to name a bird after yourself, so many birds were named after colleagues, mentors, or family members. It's not hard to imagine the mindset of honoring of a colleague like that, hoping to have the favor returned one day.
Nuttall's Woodpecker
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The explorers Lewis and Clark both have birds named after them — a woodpecker and the nutcracker. John Cassin, the curator of ornithology who described 193 species of birds in the early 1800's, has a vireo, an auklet, and a kingbird named in his honor. John Kirk Townsend, when describing a new warbler, found that Thomas Nuttall (of woodpecker fame) was describing the same warbler and was naming it after him, so Townsend "graciously" decided that Nuttall had the law of priority in his favor, allowing the bird to be named in his own honor.
Alexander Wilson, a contemporary of John James Audubon, described many bird names that still stand, and has several birds named after him. Audubon himself named 21 species of birds, 14 of them for people, including Nuttall, Bachman, and Townsend. Sadly, he lost his namesake warbler when it was lumped together with the Myrtle Warbler, and is now just the boring sounding, but aptly described, Yellow-rumped Warbler.
Williamson' Sapsucker
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In the mid 1800's. Robert Williamson, leading a survey for the Pacific Railway, oversaw the collection and description of six male woodpeckers. About the same time, John Cassin had collected all female specimens of a new, seemingly different woodpecker. It wasn't until later observations revealed that the two woodpeckers knew that they were of the same species all along, that the Williamson's Sapsucker came to be.
Many birds were named because of the sound they make — curlew, killdeer, chickadee, warbler — or because of a certain look — grosbeak, spoonbill, shoveler — or because of its habits or habitat — woodpecker, sandpiper, roadrunner, and oystercatcher, to name but a few. One drawback of using common names as a descriptor is exemplified by our continent's seven jays that happen to be blue, but only one carries the name Blue Jay.
There are some interesting scientific names too. I particularly like the loud tyrant, Tyrannus vociferous, for Cassin's Kingbird, Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus, for Yellow-headed Blackbird, and every adolescent male's snicker (no matter the chronological age) at the American Robin's moniker, Turdus migratorious.
To see the most recent rendition of bird names, go to the AOU checklist. Some of the information in this article is from "The Dictionary of Bird Names" by Ernest A. Choate.
