https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ch ... atalis.pdf
INTRODUCTION
The Yellow Bullhead (Figure 1) is a catfish (Siluriformes: Ictaluridae) native to North American fresh waters from southern Canada and the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, west into the Great Plains and the Rio Grande, with nonindigenous populations throughout most of the contiguous United States and in the lower Colorado River system of México. The species was introduced to science under the name Pimelodus natalis by French naturalist Charles-Alexandre Lesueur in 1819. Since Lesueur did not explain the meaning of natalis, American ichthyologist David Starr Jordan attempted to explain the name in several publications, including the seminal four-volume Fishes of North and Middle America (1896-1900). Jordan claimed that natalis means “having large nates, or buttocks.” Jordan’s explanation has been repeated in many scientific and popular publications ever since.
Unfortunately, it is incorrect. Jordan based his explanation on a misinterpretation of the Middle English natal, which, depending on its derivation, can mean two widely different things: buttocks or Christmas. Jordan applied the anatomical version of natal to the catfish’s name, apparently unaware that Lesueur included in his description a French cognate of Pimelodus natalis in the form of “Pimelode Noël.” In naming this catfish natalis, Lesueur was in fact honoring a French fisheries inspector whose name means Christmas: Simon-Barthélemy-Joseph Noël de La Morinière (1765–1822).
Thank you for this, Eric. I was indeed wondering. The best I could come up was the ichthyologist's heart belonged to a lady named Natalie and the catfish somehow reminded him of her... or he simply wanted to name a discovery after her in a romantic way, just like astronomers name newly discovered stars and mannequin designers name mannequins...
