I am Australian and have always known it exclusively as the American term “ladybug”. Never heard of ladybird before.
You must log in or register to comment.
Also Australian, never heard of ladybird… Weird
We call them ladybirds in the UK. No idea why.
Santa Maria is the lady in question. The bird part could be a corruption of ‘beetle’ maybe? Or perhaps just it just sounded more poetic.