Taxonomy
The auks are a family of seabirds related to the gulls and terns which contains several genera. The Common Murre is placed in the guillemot (murre) genus Uria (Brisson, 1760), which it shares with the Thick-billed Murre or Brunnich's Guillemot, U. lomvia. These species, together with the Razorbill, Little Auk and the extinct Great Auk make up the tribe Alcini. This arrangement was originally based on analyses of auk morphology and ecology.
The binomial name derives from Greek ouriaa, a waterbird mentioned by Athenaeus, and Danish aalge, "auk" (from Old Norse alka).
Read more about this topic: Common Murre