The genus Bubo was introduced in 1805 by the French zoologist André Duméril for the horned owls.

[3] The word bubo is Latin for the Eurasian eagle owl and was used as the specific epithet for the species by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.

[5][6] The genus contains 10 extant species:[6] Sometimes included in this genus: Named and distinct Bubo species are: Some notable undescribed fossils of prehistoric horned owls, usually quite fragmentary remains, have also been recorded: Specimen UMMP V31030, a Late Pliocene coracoid from the Rexroad Formation of Kansas (U.S.), cannot be conclusively assigned to either Bubo or Strix.

On the other hand, the supposed fossil heron "Ardea" lignitum from the Late Pliocene of Plaue-Rippersroda (Germany) was apparently an owl and close to Bubo or more probably actually belongs here.

However, in 2015, an eagle owl in Purmerend, Netherlands, attacked some 50 people before it was caught by a hired falconer.