Common Name: Black-eyed Suan. Brown-eyed Susan, Brown Betty, Golden Jerusalem, Yellow daisy, Brown daisy, Poorland daisy, English bull's eye - The dark color of the central floret disk provides the black-eyed metaphor. There is no known attribution for the assignation of the name Susan (or Betty for that matter). It is likely that it is a one of the more common woman's name given to one of the more common flowers.

Scientific Name: Rudbeckia hirta - The generic name is from Olof Rudbeck, a noted professor of medicine at the University of Uppsala in Sweden (see below). The species hirta is the Latin word for hairy or prickly; the stem and leaves are covered with hairs giving the plant a rough texture.