From the research I did, 'lightning bugs' could be used for all fireflies, but were more common re: the Photuris genus and not the smaller Photinus, which is known in its region more specifically as the 'big dipper' specifically because of the way it flies (in a J shape), you can check the Wiki page for more on that! But I veered towards something more specific, instead of something that applies to every species (specifically the larger ones, which this is not) in the USA.

But 'lightning bug' is a very cool name, I just didn't want people to think of the more classically known Photuris genus over the Photinus