 The French naturalist Pierre Sonnerat brought the bird to the attention of ornithologists in 1782, calling it Pigeon Hollandais (Dutch pigeon), a French vernacular name that derives from its white, dark blue and red colouration, which reminded Sonnerat of the Dutch flag. He had collected two specimens during a voyage in 1774. These syntype specimens were deposited in the Muséum national d 'Histoire naturelle in Paris. By 1893, only one of them, specimen MNHN n°C.G. 2000-727, still existed, and had been damaged by sulphuric acid in an attempt at fumigation. Since Sonnerat named and described them in French, the scientific naming of the bird was left to the Tyrolean naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, who did not observe a specimen himself, but latinised Sonnerat's description in 1786. He named the bird Columba nitidissima, which means "most brilliant pigeon". When German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin redescribed the bird with the species name franciae ("of France") in 1789, he referred to the now-familiar tricolour which had just been flown for the first time. Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre used the name batavica ("the Dutch one") in his description in 1790.
