Alaudidae

Chinese: The names in common standard usage are 百灵 bǎi-líng (sometimes 百灵鸟 bǎi-líng-niǎo), literally meaning 'hundred spirit' or 'hundred clever' and 云雀 yún-què (literally 'cloud sparrow/finch'), which ornithologists use for larks in the genus Alauda.

Chinese has a multiplicity of traditional or dialect names for the skylark. These include:

Quite a number of these names (including 云雀 yún-què) refer to the skylark's habit of singing while rapidly flying straight up, which makes it look as if the bird is calling to the sky. Several names compare the lark to a kind of pipit. Several names also use the word 灵 or spirit, possibly due to the popular belief that a skylark is the soul of a person who has returned from the dead. See Cultural Notes.

In some dialect names, found in areas such as Inner Mongolia, 百灵 bǎi líng 'hundred spirit' is transformed into 白灵 bái líng 'white spirit'. Possibly the 'hundred spirits' name came first, but folk etymology came into play to reinterpret the meaning. 百灵 bǎi líng 'hundred spirit' has also been written 百翎 in one of the names above, treating líng as 'plume, feather'. This is a very literate re-interpretation.

Japanese: Larks in Japanese are known as ヒバリ hibari, written with the Chinese characters 雲雀 'cloud sparrow/finch' (from the Chinese name). This is the usual name in popular usage.

Another name for the larks is the borrowed term コウテンシ kōtenshi meaning 'tell heaven', written 告天子 in Chinese characters. In technical usage, コウテンシ kōtenshi is confined to Melanocorypha and one species of Calandrella.

Vietnamese: The larks are known as Sơn ca in Vietnamese (ca = 'sing'). (Somewhat mysteriously, Bui Phung's Vietnamese-English dictionary gives Chim chà chiện as meaning 'mongolian lark', although this bird has not been recorded in Vietnam.)

The distribution of the Alaudidae in East Asia can be found at Tzung-Su Ding's Distribution of Alaudidae in East Asia.

1. There is confusion over the classification of Mirafra javanica, M. assamica, and M. cantillans. M&P assign what was traditionally regarded as M. javanica to M. cantillans. They also note that M. assamica may possibly be found in Yunnan.

2. Calandrella cheleensis has been split from C. rufescens, although some older treatments consider it a subspecies of C. rufescens.

3. C. cinerea is assigned to C. brachydactyla (Greater short-toed lark 大短趾百灵 dà duǎn-zhǐ bǎi-líng 'large short-toed hundred-spirit') by M&P. This is supported by HM 2003, who assign the two subspecies found in China, C. c. longipennis and C. c. dukhunensis, to C. brachydactyla.

4. Alauda japonica has been split off from A. arvensis by some. Notes on identification can be found at Identification of Japanese Lark. Japan has not yet reached a consensus on the naming. ヒバリ(雲雀) hibari is most common but ニホンヒバリ(日本雲雀) Nihon hibari 'Japanese skylark' is also seen. Where ヒバリhibari is used, other subspecies of A. arvensis become オオヒバリ ō hibari ('large skylark') for A. a. pekinensis or カラフトチュウヒバリ Karafuto chū-hibari ('Sakhalin medium skylark') for A. a. lonnbergi.

2. In Chinese, there is a popular belief that the skylark is the spirit of a person who has come back from the dead. This is found in the expression: 死了变成白灵鸟，飞来也要卯亲亲 'Becomes a skylark after death and flies back to visit its relatives'.