The family Alcidae includes the murres, guillemots, auklets, puffins, and murrelets in the order Charadriiformes.
These birds are also known as  auks or alcids.

Charadriiformes, Charadriidae, Charadrius: Late Latin word for a yellowish bird mentioned in the fourth-century Vulgate; from Ancient Greek kharadrios a bird found in ravines and river valleys (kharadra, "ravine").

The word 'auk' /ɔːk/ is derived from Icelandic álka and Norwegian alka or alke, from Old Norse ālka, from Proto-Germanic *alkǭ (sea-bird, auk).

The family name Alcidae comes from the genus name Alca, from the Norwegian word alke.