General names
Information is based on dictionaries and other sources. Comments and corrections welcome.
In Chinese, the albatross is 信天翁 , literally 'believe-heaven-old man'.
Two rare alternative names are 海鵝 'sea goose' and 布袋鵝 'cloth bag goose'. These two names are from the Chunichi Daijiten (中日大辞典), a Chinese-Japanese dictionary. Although this dictionary is usually quite reliable, these names appear in no other sources, so I include them with hesitation. The word 布袋鹅 'cloth bag goose' actually refers to the name of one of the seven Japanese gods of good fortune, Hotei, noted for his large paunch. Although modelled on the Chinese monk Bu Dai () of the 10th century, this god does not appear to have any great currency in China. The name looks suspiciously Japanese.
Species names
Notes
Under Sibley and Monroe, the Diomedeinae (albatrosses) are a subfamily of the Procellariiidae. Other subfamilies are the Procellariinae (fulmars and shearwaters) and the Hydrobatinae (petrels).


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