Emma Dunne, a palaeobiologist at Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen–Nuremberg, Germany, and her colleagues described the names as “emanating racism, sexism, named under (neo)colonial contexts or after controversial figures.”

Megalosaurus, the first dinosaur to be named, was given its title by William Buckland, a minister and geologist who found the fossilized remains in the U.K. in 1824 and named it for the enormous size of the bones. The word “dinosaur” was introduced later, in 1841.

Zoologists have relatively free rein over naming new species, with the scientist or group that first publishes work about an organism typically getting to pick its name with few restrictions.

However, there are guidelines for species naming, overseen by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), which include requirements for uniqueness, announcement in a publication, and, for dinosaurs, linkage to a single specimen.

To explore how dinosaur naming has evolved over the past two centuries, Emma Dunne and her colleagues analyzed the names of all Mesozoic-era dinosaur fossils, finding that 89 names could be considered potentially offensive.

Some names are based on colonial place names or those of controversial German figures, despite the involvement of local indigenous people or expedition members.

The use of eponyms, where a species is named after a person or people, has become more common in recent years, with 55% of such names being given in the past two decades. Additionally, 87% of species with gendered names have masculine endings. The authors recommend using descriptive names instead, as they are more useful for communication.

The ICZN is firmly against renaming species considered offensive and has no plans to change the current naming system.

Thomas Pape, a taxonomist at the Natural History Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen. “We do not recommend renaming unless there are what we would call formal nomenclatural reasons,” he stated.

“This is because the organization places great importance on preserving the ‘stability’ of names, and this could be threatened if they are changed retrospectively,” he added.