When you hear the phrase top 10 animals, you probably picture the creatures we know today. Yet many of them began life under entirely different monikers. From birds that sounded like they belonged on a different continent to mammals that were once thought to be amphibious rodents, the story of how names evolve is as wild as the animals themselves. In this whirlwind tour we’ll unpack the tangled etymology of ten well‑known critters, showing how geography, language, and plain old confusion rewrote their identities.
Why These Top 10 Animals Had Different Names
Names travel with explorers, traders, and scholars, and sometimes they get lost in translation. A creature’s original label might describe its habitat, its habits, or simply the place where it was first encountered. Over centuries, those labels can be reshaped by mistaken associations, colonial trade routes, or even a good dose of scientific curiosity. Below, each entry reveals the original name, the story behind its change, and a few fun facts you probably never heard before.
10 Guinea Fowl Formerly Called Turkey
Which turkey strutted onto the scene first—the nation or the bird? The answer, surprisingly, is the country. Early Europeans christened the bird after the Ottoman Empire’s lands, not realizing they were naming a completely different feathered friend.
The bird we now call a turkey isn’t the one that earned its name from Turkey at all. It’s actually the lesser‑known guinea fowl, a plucky African bird that got tangled up in trade routes and misidentifications.
Native to Africa, the guinea fowl hitch‑hiked to Europe via the Ottoman Empire, a region that today encompasses modern Turkey. Because the bird arrived on ships from that area, Europeans dubbed it “turkey cock” or “turkey hen,” assuming it hailed from the empire’s heartland.
When the New World was discovered, explorers shipped the true American turkey back to Europe. The newcomer looked so much like the Ottoman‑linked fowl that the name “turkey” stuck to it, while the original bird was rebranded after the West African kingdom of Guinea.
Even today, languages echo this mix‑up. Portuguese speakers call the turkey “peru bird,” Malay speakers call it “Dutch chicken,” Turkish speakers call it hindi (“Indian”), and the French say coq d’Inde (“rooster of India”), later shortened to dinde. All of these terms stem from a time when the New World was mistakenly thought to be part of the Indies.
9 Turtle Formerly Called Marine Tortoise
Before diving into the name‑swap, let’s clear up a common confusion: turtles and tortoises aren’t the same creature. Though both belong to the order Testudines, they sport very different body plans.
Tortoises sport sturdy, dome‑shaped shells and stubby legs, perfect for a life on land. Turtles, by contrast, carry flatter, more streamlined shells, webbed feet or flippers, and a penchant for the water—though they still return to shore to lay eggs.Complications arise because some turtles spend most of their lives on land and get called tortoises, while all tortoises are technically turtles in a broader taxonomic sense. To keep things tidy, many naturalists now refer to land‑dwelling species as “land turtles” and sea‑dwelling ones as “sea turtles.”
Centuries of linguistic overlap have left a legacy of mixed terminology. For a long time, sea turtles (or turtles when the land variant was being discussed) were popularly known as “marine tortoises.” The phrase traces back to French, where tortue means “turtle” and tortre means “tortoise.”
Understanding the distinction matters—especially after tales of well‑meaning ladies tossing tortoises into ponds, believing they were rescuing turtles. Those anecdotes remind us that a name isn’t just a label; it can affect how we treat the animal.
8 Cheetah And Leopard Formerly Called Leopards And Pards
Cheetahs, the world’s fastest land mammals, were once catalogued as leopards. Early naturalists believed they were hybrid offspring of a lion (leo) and a “pard,” a term that originally denoted what we now call a leopard. The Latin pardus translates to “male panther,” reinforcing the misconception.
The cheetah finally earned its own distinct name in 1704 when the Hindi word chita—ironically meaning “leopard”—was introduced to English. This term itself derived from Sanskrit chitraka, meaning “hunting leopard,” though it was occasionally applied to tigers as well.
Even today, the legacy lingers: cheetahs are sometimes still referred to as “hunting leopards,” a nod to their shared ancestry in the public imagination.
7 Killer Whale Formerly Called Whale Killers
Orcas, the sleek black‑and‑white giants of the ocean, weren’t always hailed as “killer whales.” Sailors who witnessed them ambushing larger cetaceans dubbed them “whale killers,” a straightforward description of their hunting prowess. Over time, the phrase flipped, giving us the smoother‑sounding “killer whale.”
The alternate moniker “orca” may come from Latin orca (a large‑bellied pot or jar) or from a root meaning “whale.” Scientifically, they belong to the species Orcinus orca, where Orcinus translates to “belonging to Orcus,” the Roman god of the underworld—perhaps a nod to their fearsome reputation.
6 Rabbit Formerly Called Coney
What we now call rabbits were once known as “coneys.” In medieval English, the word “rabbit” specifically described a young coney—a kit or kitten—while the adult animal retained the older term.
The word “coney” comes from the Anglo‑French plural conil, meaning “long‑eared rabbit.” By the 19th century, “rabbit” eclipsed “coney” as the dominant name, partly because “coney” began to be confused with a vulgar term for the female anatomy, prompting a shift in popular usage.
Despite its decline, “coney” survived in a few places. The name appears in the Bible, and its pronunciation was altered from rhyming with “honey” to rhyming with “boney” to avoid the unwanted association.New York’s famous Coney Island actually owes its name to the rabbit population that once thrived there. Early Dutch settlers called the area “Coney Eylant,” referencing the abundant leporids.
5 Red Panda Formerly Called Panda
Red pandas earned the original “panda” title long before their giant cousins entered the scene. The name likely stems from the Nepalese phrase nigalya ponya, meaning “bamboo eater.” Early taxonomists lumped the red panda together with the giant panda, assuming a shared lineage.
Both species were once thought to belong to a single family, with ties to bears and raccoons. It wasn’t until the turn of the millennium—around 2000—that genetic studies proved the two pandas are unrelated, each occupying its own branch on the mammalian tree.At one point, the red panda was poised to be called the “wha.” In 1821, Major General Thomas Hardwicke suggested that name after hearing the animal’s distinctive vocalizations. However, French zoologist Frédéric Cuvier beat him to publication, coining the scientific name Ailurus fulgens (“red shining cat”).
4 Panda Formerly Called Parti‑Colored Bear
While the red panda kept the original “panda” moniker, the giant panda was once known as the “parti‑colored bear.” This name, borrowed from French, reflects the animal’s striking black‑and‑white coat, reminiscent of a bear splashed with contrasting pigments.
The giant panda first entered Western scientific literature in 1901, though explorers had sighted it as early as 1869. A 1920 issue of Popular Science even labeled it the “raccoon bear,” noting its superficial resemblance to a raccoon despite its massive size.
3 Giraffe Formerly Called Camelopard
Up until the late 1800s, the towering giraffe was called a “camelopard” or “cameleopard.” The Greek term kamelopardalis fused kamelos (“camel”) with pardalis (“leopard”), reflecting the ancient belief that the animal was a hybrid of those two species.
The Greeks imagined a creature with a camel’s body and a leopard’s spots, a notion that persisted for centuries. Even the scientific name, Giraffa camelopardalis, preserves that dual heritage.
The modern name “giraffe” entered European languages in the 16th century, derived from the French girafe, which itself traces back to the Arabic zarafa. The Arabic term likely originates from Persian zurnapa, a blend of zurna (“flute”) and pa (“leg”), alluding to the animal’s long, flute‑like limbs.
Thus, whether you call it a giraffe or a camelopard, the scientific designation still honors the creature’s legendary ancestry.
2 Duck‑Billed Platypus Formerly Called Duck Mole Or Water Mole
The oddball duck‑billed platypus was originally dubbed a “duck mole” or “water mole,” reflecting early naturalists’ belief that it was some sort of amphibious rodent. Its bizarre mix of a duck’s bill, beaver‑like tail, and otter‑style feet spurred wild speculation.
In 1799, British biologist George Shaw received a preserved specimen and suspected a hoax—perhaps a taxidermist’s prank. The creature’s uncanny combination of features left scientists baffled about its true classification.
Further examinations revealed its webbed feet, clawed limbs, and mammalian fur, deepening the mystery. Was it a bird? A reptile? A mammal? The scientific community was split.
By 1793, Australian Governor John Hunter theorized that the platypus resulted from a series of inter‑species matings, while David Collins in 1797 called it an “amphibious creature of the mole kind.” Modern genetics finally settled the debate: the platypus is a monotreme, an egg‑laying mammal unique to Australia.
1 Walrus Formerly Called Morse, Sea Cow, And Sea Elephant
The massive walrus was once known as morse, and occasionally as the “sea cow” or “sea elephant.” These names reflected early observers’ attempts to fit the animal into familiar categories, though “sea cow” later became associated with the now‑extinct Steller’s sea cow.
The word “walrus” surfaced in the 1600s, but its exact origins were a puzzle. J.R.R. Tolkien, famed author of The Lord of the Rings, researched the term for the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary between 1919 and 1920.
Tolkien concluded that “walrus” derived from the Dutch walros or walrus, itself traced to the Old Norse hrosshvalr (“horse whale”). The Dutch swapped the components, turning “whale horse” into “walrus.” Alternative theories point to Old English horschwael (“horse‑whale”) or German rosswal, all hinting at a marine mammal that resembles a horse‑like whale.