Nomen nudum

The phrase nomen nudum (plural nomina nuda) is a Latin term, meaning "naked name", used in taxonomy (especially in zoological and botanical nomenclature). It may or may not be written in italics, depending on style.

The term is used to indicate a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be a scientific name, but fails to be one because it has not (or has not yet) been published with an adequate description (or a reference to such a description), and thus is a "bare" or "naked" name, one which cannot be accepted as it currently stands.