 With its vast range across the length of the Americas , P. concolor has dozens of names and various references in the mythology of the indigenous Americans and in contemporary culture . Currently , it is referred to as " puma " by most scientists and by the populations in 21 of the 23 countries in the Americas where " puma " is the common name in Spanish or Portuguese . The cat has many local or regional names in the United States and Canada , of which cougar , puma , mountain lion , and panther are popular . " Mountain lion " was a term first used in writing in 1858 from the diary of George A. Jackson of Colorado . Other names include <unk> ( probably a contraction from " cat of the mountain " ) , mountain <unk> , and painter . <unk> regard painter as a primarily upper @-@ Southern US regional variant on panther . The word panther is commonly used to specifically designate the black panther , a <unk> jaguar or leopard , and the Florida panther , a subspecies of cougar ( P. c. coryi ) . 
