The common raven was one of the many species originally described by Linnaeus in his 18th century work, Systema Naturae, and it still bears its original name of Corvus corax. It is the type species of the genus Corvus, derived from the Latin word for "raven". The specific epithet corax is the Latinized form of the Greek word κόραξ meaning "raven" or "crow".
The modern English word raven has cognates in all other Germanic languages, including Old Norse (and subsequently modern Icelandic) hrafn and Old High German raban, all which descend from Proto-Germanic khrabanas. An old Scottish word corby or corbie, akin to the French corbeau, has been used for both this bird and the carrion crow. Obsolete collective nouns for a group of ravens (or at least the common raven) include "unkindness" and "conspiracy". In practice, most English-speakers use the more generic "flock".