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Eponyms have no place in 21st-century biological nomenclature

Nature Ecology & Evolution (2023)Cite this article

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We argue that naming species in honour of a specific person is unjustifiable and out of step with equality and representation. Reforming taxonomy to remove eponyms will not be easy but could bring multiple benefits for both conservation and society.

The problematic nature of many eponyms reflects a much wider public discourse, with passionate debates about whether and how we should honour historical figures whose values, actions and/or beliefs are now incompatible with contemporary culture. For example, in South Africa, the highly visible and enduring legacy of the British imperialist Cecil John Rhodes (who also has species named after him4) became the focus of a powerful social movement known as ‘Rhodes Must Fall’. This movement ignited activists across several South African academic institutions to remove emblems and effigies of Rhodes and other contentious figures who are associated with a legacy of colonialism, racism and other forms of oppression5. It also inspired activists in UK6 and US universities to follow suit, and to expand their protests to include historical figures associated with social ills such as slave ownership (for example, Isaac Royall) and racial segregation (for example, Woodrow Wilson)7. More broadly, the past decade has seen the rise of numerous movements — both local and national — that seek to remove contentious memorials altogether8.

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Fig. 1: Number of eponym species in relation to the commemorated person’s profession and/or relation to the describing author.
Fig. 2: Proportions of eponym species in Africa and origins of their names.

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Acknowledgements

Partial support for P.G., F.A.-M., J.M.A. and R.J.L. came via the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 854248. A.M.C.S. was supported by a ‘Ramón y Cajal’ Fellowship (RYC2020-029407-I) of the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. R.A.C. acknowledges financial support from the KONE Foundation (grant no. 202101976) and the Academy of Finland (grant no. 348352).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CIBIO-InBIO, Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, University of Porto, Vairão, Portugal

    Patrícia Guedes, Fernanda Alves-Martins, Javier Martínez Arribas, Sumita Chatterjee & Richard J. Ladle

  2. BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Vairão, Portugal

    Patrícia Guedes, Fernanda Alves-Martins, Javier Martínez Arribas, Sumita Chatterjee & Richard J. Ladle

  3. Terrestrial Ecology Group (TEG-UAM), Departamento de Ecología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Ana M. C. Santos

  4. Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Cambio Global (CIBC-UAM), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Ana M. C. Santos

  5. Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel

    Amir Lewin

  6. A. P. Leventis Ornithological Research Institute, Zoology Department, University of Jos, Jos, Nigeria

    Longji Bako

  7. Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management, Maasai Mara University, Narok, Kenya

    Paul W. Webala

  8. Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Ricardo A. Correia

  9. Biodiversity Unit, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Ricardo A. Correia

  10. Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Ricardo Rocha

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  1. Patrícia Guedes
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Correspondence to Richard J. Ladle.

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Guedes, P., Alves-Martins, F., Arribas, J.M. et al. Eponyms have no place in 21st-century biological nomenclature. Nat Ecol Evol (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02022-y

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