 Meinertzhagen formally described the species in "Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club" paper later that year, and gave it the binomial name "Montifringilla theresae".He reported that he collected the type specimen of the species in the Shibar Pass, between Bamyan and Kabul.The name he gave the species was after his cousin and companion, Theresa Clay, an expert on bird lice.