Hüseyin Ambarli, Carlos Bautista, Rich Beausoleil, Lana Ciarniello, Nishith Dharaiya, Đuro Huber, Matt Hunt, Agnieszka Sergiel, Sandeep Sharma, Ron Swaisgood, Russ Van Horn, Xime Velez-Liendo

Most English common names for bear species are not standardized nor globally accepted. The IUCN, with input from the Bear Specialist Group (BSG), uses giant panda, sun bear, sloth bear, Andean bear, American black bear, Asiatic black bear, brown bear, and polar bear. The Mammal Diversity Database (MDD) uses the same names, but capitalized, except for Asian rather than Asiatic. The scientific literature, based on a Goole Scholar search, consistently uses IUCN names in the titles of papers for the giant panda, sloth bear, and polar bear, but less for brown bear (88%, 12% used grizzly bear), Asiatic black bear (83%, 11% used Asian), Andean bear (58%, 42% used spectacled), sun bear (57%, 40% used Malayan sun bear), and American black bear (35%, 62% used just black bear). IBA’s journal, Ursus, uses the IUCN names for all species (around 90% of papers), except for the brown bear (67%, 33% used grizzly). In the North American-focused Journal of Wildlife Management, 13% of the papers on American black bear used that name, the others were just black bear; 80% used Asiatic black bear and 20% Asian black bear. Thus, there is considerable variation in the use of many species’ common names. We seek a discussion on the English common names of bear species, based on terminology that is inclusive, accurate, and culturally sensitive. We propose starting with a survey of our global community of bear biologists to identify species where revised or alternative names may be appropriate. Finally, we emphasize promoting the consistent and standardized adoption of agreed common names to improve clarity and reduce ambiguity in the scientific and conservation literature. This is possible. IUCN replaced spectacled bear with Andean bear in 2008, based on the recommendation of the Andean Bear Expert Team (BSG). Scientists adapted quickly, as significantly more papers in Google Scholar used Andean bear between 2009-2025 (73%) than in 1997-2007 (22%, P<0.001).