Puffin are closely related, together composing the subfamily Fraterculini. The scientific name "Fratercula" is derived from Latin and means "little brother", a reference to the black and white plumage, which resembles monastic robes. The English name "puffin" – puffed in the sense of swollen – was originally applied to the fatty, salted meat of young birds of the unrelated Manx shearwater ("Puffinus puffinus"), formerly known as the "Manks puffin". Puffin is an Anglo-Norman word (Middle English "pophyn" or "poffin") for the cured carcasses of nestling Manx shearwaters. The oldest alcid fossil is "Hydrotherikornis" from Oregon dating to the Late Eocene while
Puffinus and often give eerie contact calls on their night-time visits. They lay a single white egg. They feed on fish, squid and similar oceanic food. Some will follow fishing boats to take scraps, notably the sooty shearwater; these species also commonly follow whales to feed on fish disturbed by them. Traditionally, "Puffinus" has been grouped with the "Procellaria" and "Calonectris" shearwaters. However, more recent results have determined that the genus is apparently paraphyletic and while in part very close to "Calonectris", forms a clade with the genera "Pseudobulweria" and "Lugensa", which were formerly presumed to be gadfly petrels, and can