 The brown honeyeater was originally described by Nicholas Aylward Vigors and Thomas Horsfield in 1827 as Meliphaga indistincta. The species name indistincta is from the Latin word meaning "obscure". Vigors and Horsfield were working from the bird collection of the Linnean Society in London, and they said of the brown honeyeater specimen, "It is however in very bad condition, and scarcely admits of a description." Later included in the "catch-all" genus Gliciphila, the brown honeyeater is now classified as a member of the genus Lichmera, from the Greek word meaning "to lick" or "to dart the tongue", following Schodde (1975), Sibley and Monroe (1990) and Christidis and Boles (1994). As well as the nominate race Lichmera indistincta indistincta, a number of other sub-species are recognised: ocularis (derived from the Medieval Latin word "oculus" meaning eye), melvillensis (named for Melville Island where it is found), limbatus (from the Latin for "fringed") and nupta (from the Latin "nubere" meaning to marry, or be married to). The Indonesian honeyeater Lichmera limbata is treated as a sub-species of L. indistincta by some taxonomic authorities.
