Since the scientist who discovers a species gets the right to name it, the lay public doesn't often have a chance to join in the fun. But the Wildlife Conservation Society announced this month that it would auction off the naming rights to a new species of monkey found in Bolivia. The money raised by the auction (beginning Thursday at www.charityfolks.com) will go to wildlife protection in that country.

So, to the victor goes the spelling. And just about any spelling goes.

"We have a code of ethics -- no names that could be offensive on any grounds," said Neal L. Evenhuis, an entomologist at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu and current president of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, which oversees the naming process (similar groups exist for plants and bacteria). Beyond that, and requirements for Latinizing certain words, the person naming a species has wide leeway.

Dr. Evenhuis has taken some of that leeway himself with several of the more than 500 species of insects he has named. The flies Pieza pi and Pieza rhea are his creations, as are Pieza deresistans (relying on an alternative pronunciation of the genus name) and his personal favorite, Phthiria relativitae.

"It's not that I'm desperate," Dr. Evenhuis said. "I just have this streak of levity. Not all names have to necessarily be kind of boring."

Others, however, are desperate. The problem is there are too many species. Well over one million animal species have been described, and millions more are awaiting discovery. And there are still many known species that no one has had the time to name yet. "There are not enough taxonomists to go around," Dr. Evenhuis said.