Pelecanidae

1. General names

Chinese: The pelican goes by a number of names in Chinese. The standard common name is 鹈鹕 tíhú, sometimes seen as 鹈鹕鸟 tíhú-niǎo ('pelican bird'). Others are:

• 塘鹅 táng-é ('pond goose')
• 淘河 táo-hé ('dredge river')
• 犁鹕 lí-hú ('plough pelican' or 'plough lake?')
• 伽蓝鸟 qiélán-niǎo ('temple bird')

Apart from the long-attested 伽蓝鸟 qiélán-niǎo, what is remarkable about the above names is that all are reminiscent of 鹈鹕 tíhú, but modified in ways suggestive of folk etymology.

Japanese:

• In Japanese, the standard common name is ペリカン perikan, borrowed from English.
• The Chinese form ガランチョウ (伽藍鳥) garan-chō (i.e., 'temple bird') survives mainly as an archaic variant.

Vietnamese:

• The standard common name is Bồ nông. The term Lềnh đềnh is a northern name.
• Other names include Trôi bè, Chằng bè, Thằng bè, and Cò mòng ('wild-duck heron').

2. Species names

SCIENTIFIC & ENGLISH		CHINESE			JAPANESE		VIETNAMESE
Latin	English	Chinese	Chinese (Taiwan)	Other Ch	Japanese	Other J	Vietnamese	Other V
Pelacanus
Pelecanus onocrotalus	Great white pelican Eastern white pelican (Cheng) White pelican Rosy pelican	白鹈鹕 bái tíhú 'white pelican'			モモイロペリカン (桃色ペリカン) momo-iro perikan 'pink pelican'		Bồ nông chân hồng 'rosy legged pelican' or Lềnh đềnh chân hồng 'rosy legged pelican'
Pelecanus philippensis	Spot-billed pelican (Cheng) Grey pelican Spotted billed pelican	斑嘴鹈鹕 bān-zǔi tíhú 'spotted bill pelican'	灰鵜鶘 huī tíhú 'grey pelican'		ハイイロペリカン (灰色ペリカン) hai-iro perikan 'grey pelican'		Bồ nông chân xám 'grey legged pelican' or Lềnh đềnh chân xám 'grey legged pelican'	Bồ nông 'pelican' Lềnh đềnh 'pelican' Trôi bè 'troi be' Chằng bè 'chang be'
Pelecanus crispus	Dalmatian pelican	卷羽鹈鹕 juǎn-yǔ tíhú 'curly feathered pelican' Note	卷羽鵜鶘 juǎn-yǔ tíhú 'curly feathered pelican'	鹈鹕 tíhú 'pelican' 菲律宾鹈鹕 Fēilǚbīn tíhú 'Philippine pelican'	ニシハイイロペリカン (西灰色ペリカン) nishi hai-iro perikan 'western grey pelican' (Wikipedia)		Bồ nông trắng đốm đen 'black-spotted white pelican' (from Internet cites list)

3. Notes

1. 塘鹅 táng-é is not listed in the Xiandai Han'yu Cidian, the most widely used Mainland dictionary of Chinese, which gives only 鹈鹕 tíhú and 淘河 táo-hé. The omission is most likely a deliberate attempt to exclude 塘鹅 táng-é, which appears to be a mainly southern word, from standard Chinese. However, 塘鹅 táng-é is still widely found in both Mainland and Taiwanese sources.

Also of interest is the way in which these three names appear to be connected. Both 淘河 táo-hé and 塘鹅 táng-é have more than a passing phonetic resemblance to 鹈鹕 tíhú, and both look suspiciously like folk etymologies, reinterpreting the name as 'dredge river' and 'pond goose' respectively.

As in many such cases, Chinese people are not terribly familiar with pelicans and are not necessarily aware that 鹈鹕 tíhú and 塘鹅 táng-é are different names for the same thing. In one amusing case which I personally encountered, a tour itinerary drawn up by a Chinese travel agency for a trip to Australia included among its attractions 塘鹅 táng-é on the Hawkesbury River and 鹈鹕 tíhú at Tangalooma (Moreton Bay)! Presumably the agent did not realise that they were selling the same attraction twice. Nor did the person for whom the itinerary was prepared -- indeed she was unable to even read the characters 鹈鹕 tíhú.