The genus Brachypodius was introduced in 1845 by the English zoologist Edward Blyth to accommodate the black-headed bulbul.[1] The word Brachypodius combines the Ancient Greek brakhus meaning "short" with pous, podos meaning "foot".[2]
A molecular phylogenetic study of the bulbul family published in 2017 found that Pycnonotus was polyphyletic.[3] In the revision to create monophyletic genera Brachypodius was resurrected to contain four species that were previously placed in Pycnonotus.[4]