Birds of the World: Recommended English Names is a paperback book written by Frank Gill and Minturn Wright on behalf of the International Ornithologists' Union.

[1]: back cover Since the pioneering work of Linnaeus, species of organisms have had recognized scientific names in Latin, Greek, or a modernized derivative of one or both of those languages.

[2] In the late 19th century, the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) made an attempt to standardize the English names of birds; its effort covered the United States and Canada.

"[3] In the late 1980s, the International Ornithological Congress (IOC) sought to reach consensus in standardized vernacular names for commonly used languages.

[1]: 1  Even so, the authors acknowledged that reaching complete global consensus on names and spelling is unlikely, and they presented this work as a first phase of an ongoing process.

[2] The English names project began in 1990, when the IOC appointed a committee of prominent ornithologists, chaired by Burt L. Monroe, Jr., to consider the issue.

[1]: back cover  G. Stuart Keith, Christopher Perrins, Nigel Redman, Robert S. Ridgely, Stephen M. Russell, Peter G. Ryan, and Richard Schodde served as regional chairs.

[1]: 2–3 Twenty-eight committee members worked to formulate the rules and apply them to the task: Per Alström, Mark Beaman, Aldo Berutti, Clive Barlow, David Bishop, Murray Bruce, Paul Coopmans, W. Richard J.

Dean, Brian Gill, Simon Harrap, Steven Hilty, Steve N. G. Howell, Tim Inskipp, Michael Irwin, Kenn Kaufman, G. Stuart Keith, Ben King, David Parkin, Christopher Perrins, H. Douglas Pratt, Nigel Redman, Peter G. Ryan, Robert S. Ridgley, Phillip Round, Stephen M. Russell, Richard Schodde, Donald Turner, and Harrison B. Tordoff.

[1]: 3–5 The result, published in 2006, was a 199-page list of species,[1]: 12–211  arranged taxonomically,[1]: 2  and a 46-page index,[1]: 213–259  giving both English and scientific names, primarily of genera and families.

Howell called the work a "handy little book" and "a good starting point [which] deserves serious consideration by persons interested in communicating" about birds, although the review mentions the inconsistency between this list and the AOU's names.

[16] Rick Wright, while acknowledging that "[c]onsistency is a slippery goal," called the list "a spectacularly useful resource for anyone who writes, reads, or thinks about birds outside of his or her own region" and concluded that "the committee and the editors are to be congratulated for producing a useful and useable [sic] work.