Project Linnaeus was named after Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778) a Swedish botanist who developed the method of plant and animal classification used today. His system of binomial nomenclature assigned two names, genus and species, to each living thing. Thus, the "scientific name" for the Virginia pine is Pinus Virginiana and is written in Latin form since Latin was the language of scholars of his time.

It is commonly thought that Linnaeus changed his name from Linne’ to the Latin form as required in naming plants; however, the reverse is true. "Before the eighteenth century many Swedish peasants did not possess family surnames; each added to the baptismal name the genitive of the father’s name with the suffix –son (son) or –dotter (daughter) according to sex. Thus Linnaeus’s father was Nils Ingermarsson"(Stearn, 1966). His father took Linnaeus as his last name the Swedish name of the Lind tree, which grew on their property.

Although Linnaeus is known as a great botanist, he is best remembered not for the subject, but for his method of "descriptive—comparative examination of the vegetable and animal kingdoms in a unique fashion and brought the static view of living nature to its highest point" (Goerke, 1973). Linnaeus’s system of classifying living things formed the basis for modern taxonomy.

Stearn, William T. Botanical Latin. Hafner Publishing Company, New York (1966).

Goerke, Heinz. Linnaeus. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York (1973).