---
title: "Which do you prefer to use: ~ scientific names or ~ common names…"
description: "Which do you prefer to use: ~ scientific names or ~ common names 🌱🌵🌿☀️"
url: "https://getplanta.com/community/lZ7uAE3pQ86jnFGxrCwLrg/8NPR5ognQ2imDosB0pk6jQ"
community: "Anything about plants"
author: "Alison"
published: "2024-02-11T21:48:56.569855Z"
language: "en"
image: "https://images.getplanta.com/v2/cloudinary/global_data/communities/everythingHousePlants.jpg"
---

[Community](https://getplanta.com/community.md) / [Anything about plants](https://getplanta.com/community/lZ7uAE3pQ86jnFGxrCwLrg.md)

# Which do you prefer to use: ~ scientific names or ~ common names…

_Posted by Alison on 2024-02-11_

Which do you prefer to use:  
~ scientific names  
or  
~ common names  
🌱🌵🌿☀️

## 12 comments

### Mama’s plants 🪴 commented on 2024-02-11

I name my plants. All of them. 🤦🏻‍♀️😂 In the app they all have names and it also keeps the scientific name. 🌱

#### Alison replied on 2024-02-11

Love it! I haven’t gotten that far into the obsession yet. 😉☺️

### Plant Father commented on 2024-02-11

i prefer the scientific names. common names are confusing to me as sometimes one name can apply to multiple species or even species across multiple genera, or one species can have ten different common names. the latin name tells me for sure which species is being referenced

#### Alison replied on 2024-02-11

Quite true!

### Samantha commented on 2024-02-12

I prefer common names just because some can be hard to remember/pronounce correctly! After owning a variety of different plants for several years now I’ve become accustomed to most common house plants scientific names, but very rarely do I actually use them

#### Alison replied on 2024-02-12

Yeah, the Latin is hard!

#### Mullein replied on 2024-02-12

You just have to say your own pronunciation confidently, then other people will think THEY’VE been saying it wrong 😉😂 But yeah, the are just too many syllables in some scientific names lol

#### Alison replied on 2024-02-12

Lol! I’ll do that!

### MamaWilson commented on 2024-02-12

I name all of my plants and usually refer to them that way. When people ask what type of plant they are, I typically use the common name (I can’t remember half of the scientific names, and the other half I can’t pronounce 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣)

### DanishGramma commented on 2024-02-12

I prefer to use the scientific name except for if I can’t pronounce it or remember it. Too many common names with the word money or star! Lol  
But I do like to give them silly names too. They do have personalities 😁

### Alison commented on 2024-02-12

I love everyone’s ways of doing things! The scientific names help me to learn what types of plants there are and how to recognize them. But the common names are much easier.

### Hens and chicks commented on 2024-02-13

I use both! Depends on what names I’ve memorized!

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