The Montserrat oriole was formally described in 1880 by the American amateur ornithologist George Newbold Lawrence from a specimen collected on the island Montserrat during an expedition to the West Indies led by the US naturalist Frederick Albion Ober.
George Newbold Lawrence, an American amateur ornithologist, described the Montserrat oriole in 1880 based on a specimen gathered on Montserrat as part of an expedition organized by the US naturalist Frederick Albion Ober to the West Indies.