Spending many summer months in the foothills of the Pyrenees, I have, on a few occasions, had the distinct pleasure of observing the Bearded Vulture in the wild. Though by far no such expert on the creature as Anark, I should like to add the following concerning the birds.
The Lammergeier or Ossifrage does indeed suffer from a lot of injust namecalling. The only people who seem to have found a suitable name for the bird whithout having to fall back on German or Latin derrivatives are the Spaniards. In Spanish it is know as the Quebrantahuesos, which means, translated literally, 'he who breaks bones'.
P.S. Unfortunately, seeing the bird for the harmless creature it is, right from the word 'go', didn't stop the Spaniards shooting it to near extinction...