Taxonomy and Naming
The Rock Dove was first described by Gmelin in 1789. The genus name Columba is the Latinized form of the Ancient Greek κόλυμβος (kolumbos), "a diver", from κολυμβάω (kolumbao), "dive, plunge headlong, swim". Aristophanes (Birds, 304) and others use the word κολυμβίς (kolumbis), "diver", for the name of the bird, because of its swimming motion in the air. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin livor, "bluish". Its closest relative in the Columba genus is the Hill Pigeon, followed by the other rock pigeons: the Snow, Speckled and White-collared Pigeons.
The species is also known as the Rock Pigeon or Blue Rock Dove, the former being the official name from 2004 to 2011, at which point the IOC changed their official listing to its original British name of Rock Dove. In common usage, this bird is still often simply referred to as the "pigeon". Baby pigeons are called squabs.
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