Washington State Department of Agriculture entomologist Chris Looney baits a hornet trap with orange juice. The Entomological Society of America embraced Looney's proposal to name the hornet commonly known as Asian giant hornets the “northern giant hornet.”

The Entomological Society of America has asked scientists, government officials, media and public to call Asian giant hornets, popularly known as “murder hornets,” by a new name.

The society adopted “northern giant hornet” as its common name for the world’s largest wasp. Washington State Department of Agriculture entomologist Chris Looney proposed the name.

“Northern giant hornet is both scientifically accurate and easy to understand, and it avoids evoking fear or discrimination,” Entomological Society President Jessica Ware said in a statement.

Until now, the hornet, scientifically known as Vespa mandarinia, has not had an official common name, though Asian giant hornet has long been established in scientific papers.

Entomologists have generally shunned “murder hornets,” saying the name’s sensationalistic, though the name has caught on.

The society has been reviewing names of insects. The society’s guidelines discourage names linked to geography or ethnicity, or that would make people view the insect as loathsome.

Last year, the society dropped “gypsy moth” in favor of “spongy moth,” the first product of its Better Common Names Project.

The society also accepted Looney’s proposal to name Vespa soror the “southern giant hornet.” It does not have a popular name, though it is also described in scientific papers as a giant hornet.

The two large hornet species overlap in southern China.

The northern giant hornet ranges north to Japan and the Korean Peninsula. The southern giant hornet ranges south to Vietnam and Cambodia.

Northern giant hornets have been found in northwest Washington and just across the border in British Columbia, but nowhere else in North America.

Officials in both countries are trapping for the invasive species and hope to keep it from being established. The hornets swarm bee hives during what scientists call their “slaughter phase.”

Efforts to reach Looney for comment were unsuccessful. In an earlier interview, he said that he proposed “northern giant hornet” to avoid confusion with yet a third hornet species, Vespa veluntina.

That hornet has reached Europe and is commonly known there as the “Asian hornet.”

The similarity between “Asian giant hornet” and “Asian hornet” apparently led a Washington resident to report an Asian giant hornet sighting on a United Kingdom website.

The confusion delayed finding and eradicating a nest in Whatcom County in 2020, according to the state agriculture department.

The society accepted a third proposal from Looney to call Vespa veluntina the “yellow-legged hornet” for a distinguishing anatomical feature.

All 22 species of hornets are from Asia. Looney said using the term “Asian” to describe any one of them was not distinctive.