Somewhere out there, a scientist looked at a small grey bird and officially named it the Drab Seedeater. Another one heard a bird call and decided it was saying “go away.” Bird names are full of moments like this. Some sound rude, some sound like insults, and some are just strangely honest.
This page covers funny bird names in two parts. The first is real birds with names that make people laugh, grouped by the reason the name turned out funny. The second is funny names for a pet bird, with a warning that most name lists skip.
Jump to: Real birds with funny names · Funny names for your pet bird
Part 1: Real Birds With Funny Names
Every bird in this section is a real species or a real nickname. The names are funny for different reasons, so they’re grouped that way.
Birds that were named after their own noise
Many birds were simply named after what they sound like. Say these out loud and they get funnier.
Dickcissel
A small prairie bird from North America. Its song sounds a bit like “dick-dick-ciss-ciss,” and that’s where the name came from. It is probably the bird name most likely to make a classroom giggle.
Grey Go-away-bird
An African bird whose loud alarm call sounds like someone shouting “g’way!” It has a cousin called the Bare-faced Go-away-bird, so the joke works twice.
Chachalaca
A noisy, chicken-like bird from the Americas. The name copies its loud, chattering call. A group calling together at sunrise sounds like a shouting match.
Kittiwake
A seabird whose call sounds like “kitti-waake.” People often say it as if a cat were waking up.
Potoo
A night bird from Central and South America with a sad, wailing call. The name copies the sound. Potoos are also famous for their huge eyes and for sitting so still on branches that they look like broken wood.
Hoopoe
A striped bird with a crest like a fan. Its call is a soft “oop-oop-oop,” which gave it both its English name and its scientific name, Upupa epops.
Chiffchaff, Whip-poor-will and Bobolink
All three are named after their songs. The bobolink’s song was heard as “Bob o’ Lincoln,” which sounds more like a person’s name than a bird.
Jackass Penguin
This penguin brays loudly, like a donkey. Today it’s officially called the African Penguin, but the old name still pops up.
The cisticolas
These are small, brown African birds that look almost the same. So they were named by their calls instead. The list includes the Tinkling Cisticola, Wailing Cisticola, Croaking Cisticola, Rattling Cisticola and Zitting Cisticola. It reads like a list of sound effects.
Old words that sound rude today
These names were completely innocent when they were given. The words just changed over time, or have other meanings now.
Great Tit, Tufted Titmouse and Bushtit
“Tit” is an old word for a small thing or small bird. “Titmouse” has nothing to do with mice. It comes from an Old English word for a kind of small bird. That hasn’t stopped people from telling friends they saw “some great tits in the garden.”
Blue-footed Booby
“Booby” comes from the Spanish word bobo, meaning fool. Early sailors gave it this name because the birds didn’t run away from people. That made them easy to catch. They weren’t foolish; they had just never met humans. The bright blue feet are real, and males show them off in a high-stepping dance.
Wheatear
This sounds like a grain. It actually comes from old English words for “white arse,” because the bird has a bright white rump that flashes when it flies.
Shag and Rough-faced Shag
“Shag” here refers to a tuft or crest of feathers. These are seabirds related to cormorants. The Rough-faced Shag of New Zealand has bumpy skin on its face. British readers usually laugh harder at this one.
Woodcock and Cock-of-the-rock
In old English, “cock” simply meant a male bird. The woodcock is a plump forest bird with eyes set far back on its head. The Andean Cock-of-the-rock is a bright orange bird that nests on rock faces, and it’s the national bird of Peru.
Little Bustard
A real bird from Europe and Asia. The word “bustard” is thought to come from old words meaning “slow bird.” It has no link to the insult it sounds like.
When the scientist was not impressed
Some birds got names that sound like a bad review.
- Drab Seedeater: A plain grey-brown bird from South America. The name is accurate and a little cruel.
- Dull-colored Grassquit: Another honest but unflattering name.
- Sombre Greenbul: An African bird that is, sadly, sombre.
- Monotonous Lark: A southern African lark. The males repeat the same short song phrase over and over, often for long stretches.
- Perplexing Scrubwren: An Australian bird named because experts found it hard to classify. The bird is fine; the scientists were confused.
- Inaccessible Island Rail: The smallest living flightless bird. It lives on Inaccessible Island in the South Atlantic. The name sounds like a joke, but it’s just a place name.
Then there are the birds that seem to be named only in comparison to others:
- Intermediate Egret: Bigger than the Little Egret, smaller than the Great Egret. That’s the whole name.
- Middle Spotted Woodpecker: Same idea.
- Lesser Yellowlegs: A wading bird with yellow legs that is, well, lesser.
When the scientist was very impressed
At the other end are names that sound like compliments from a proud parent.
- Handsome Fruiteater
- Superb Fairywren, Splendid Fairywren and Lovely Fairywren
- Powerful Owl: Australia’s largest owl, and it lives up to the name.
- Marvelous Spatuletail: A Peruvian hummingbird with two long tail feathers that end in round tips, like tiny paddles.
Named after one strange body part
- Hoary Puffleg: A hummingbird with white fluffy puffs around its legs. “Hoary” means greyish-white.
- Fluffy-backed Tit-babbler: A Southeast Asian bird with fluffy back feathers. Many people assume this one is made up. It isn’t.
- Wrybill: A New Zealand bird whose beak bends to the side. No other bird has a beak that curves sideways like this.
- Shoebill: A tall African bird with a bill shaped like a big wooden shoe.
- Tawny Frogmouth: An Australian night bird with a wide mouth like a frog.
- Hairy Woodpecker: Not hairy, just has softer-looking feathers than you’d expect.
- Horned Screamer: A large South American bird with a thin spike on its forehead and a very loud call. It sounds like a heavy metal band.
- Yellow-bellied Sapsucker: It has a yellow belly, and it drills small holes in trees to drink the sap. It sounds like a cowboy insult, but every word is accurate.
- Bearded Mountaineer: A hummingbird from Peru with a colorful patch on its throat.
Old superstitions and bad reputations
Goatsucker
An old name for nightjars. People once believed these birds drank milk from goats at night. They don’t. They were just catching insects near the animals. The family’s scientific name, Caprimulgus, still means “goat-milker” in Latin.
Satanic Nightjar
A nightjar from Sulawesi in Indonesia. Its scientific name, diabolicus, means devilish. The name is said to come from local beliefs that linked the bird’s night call to bad luck.
Oilbird
A cave bird from South America. Its chicks become very fat, and people once boiled them down for oil. Not a happy story, but a very literal name.
Hoatzin, also called the Stinkbird
A South American bird said to smell like manure. That’s because it digests leaves by fermenting them in its gut, a little like a cow.
Spangled Drongo
Drongos are real birds, but in Australia “drongo” is also slang for a fool. The usual story is that the slang came from a 1920s racehorse named Drongo that kept losing. So the Spangled Drongo sounds like a sparkly idiot.
Nicknames birders made up
Birdwatchers have their own funny names that aren’t official.
- Timberdoodle and Bogsucker: Old nicknames for the American Woodcock. In spring, males make a buzzy “peent” call on the ground and then do a spiraling sky dance.
- Butter-butt: Birder slang for the Yellow-rumped Warbler, which has a bright yellow patch above its tail.
- Butterbump: An old folk name for the Eurasian Bittern, a bird known for its deep, booming call.
- LBJ: Short for “little brown job.” Birders use it for small brown birds that are hard to identify.
What birders find funniest
In a popular Reddit discussion where birders shared their funniest bird names, the rude-sounding ones came up first and most often: the tits, the boobies, the dickcissel and the woodcock. But the replies that got people talking longest were often the stories behind the names, like why boobies were called fools or how a bird got called a go-away-bird. Several people also mentioned the trouble of telling non-birders what they saw at their feeder without sounding like they were making it up.
That’s a good way to enjoy these names. The first laugh is the sound of the name. The second laugh is finding out it’s completely accurate.
Part 2: Funny Names for Your Pet Bird
The names below are original suggestions for pet birds. They are not traditional names and have no hidden meanings beyond the joke.
First, do the shout test
Birds that talk, like parrots, budgies and cockatiels, often learn their own name and repeat it. Many will shout it loudly when excited, when visitors arrive or at the vet’s office.
So before you pick a funny name, imagine your bird yelling it in front of your grandmother, your boss or a quiet waiting room. If you’d be embarrassed, choose something else. Save the rude jokes from Part 1 for trivia night.
Two more quick tips:
- Keep it short. One or two syllables are easier for you to call and easier for a bird to copy.
- Avoid names that sound like commands. “Joe” sounds a lot like “no,” and “Stepper” can blur with “step up,” a common training cue.
Serious human names for tiny birds
A big, formal name on a very small bird is a joke that never gets old.
- Gerald
- Doris
- Nigel
- Brenda
- Stanley
- Mildred
- Agnes
- Bartholomew (call him “Barty”)
- Big Steve (for the smallest budgie in the cage)
Food names
- Pickle
- Nacho
- Waffles
- Dumpling
- Pretzel
- Mango
- Biscuit
- Kiwi (a fruit joke and a bird joke at the same time)
Bird puns
- Bill: A normal name and also another word for a beak.
- Polly Esther: For a parrot, since “Polly” is the classic parrot name.
- Sir Squawks-a-Lot: For a bird that never stops.
- Tweetheart: For a bird that’s sweet, most of the time.
- Wingnut: For a bird that’s a little bit wild.
- Peckworth: Sounds like an old-fashioned butler.
Names that match the personality
For a loud bird: Kazoo, Siren, Alarm Clock, Opera
For a dramatic bird: Diva, Duchess, Princess Pecks
For a clumsy bird: Bonk, Oops, Crash
For a grumpy bird: Mr. Grumbles, Sergeant, Crabcake
For a bird that steals food off your plate: Bandit, Snack Thief, Crumbs
Names that fit the type of bird
- Budgie (very small): Tank, Moose, Brutus. Tiny bird, huge name.
- Cockatiel (has a crest): Mohawk, Spike, Fluffhead
- African Grey (very smart talker): Professor, Sherlock, Chatterbox
- Conure (famously loud): Kazoo works here too, or Foghorn
- Chicken: Henrietta, Eggatha, Omelette, Drumstick (if you like dark humor)
- Duck: Puddles, Waddles, Sir Quacks
Quick Questions
What is the funniest real bird name?
There’s no official answer. Birders most often point to the dickcissel, blue-footed booby, great tit and go-away-bird. For a name that’s funny without being rude, the Fluffy-backed Tit-babbler and the Perplexing Scrubwren are strong picks.
Are all these rude-sounding birds real?
Yes. Every bird in Part 1 is a real species or a real nickname. Most of the rude-sounding names come from old English words or bird calls, not from anyone trying to be crude.
Do funny bird names ever get changed?
Sometimes. The Jackass Penguin is now officially the African Penguin, and the duck once called “Oldsquaw” was renamed the Long-tailed Duck in 2000. In 2023, the American Ornithological Society also announced it would change the English names of birds in its area that are named after people.
Can I name my pet after a real species?
Sure. Kakapo, Potoo, Hoopoe and Chachalaca all make fun, unusual pet names, and they pass the shout test. Dickcissel probably doesn’t.
Final Words
The best funny bird names are funny twice: once when you hear them, and again when you learn they’re true. A bird called “go-away” really does seem to say it. A bird called “drab” really is plain. Use the real ones for trivia, and if you’re naming a pet, choose a funny bird name you’d be happy to hear shouted across the room.
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Boltz writes about names, their meanings, origins, history, and everyday use. With a focus on clear and useful information, Boltz helps readers explore names, understand their background, and find details that make choosing or learning about a name easier.
