The rock beauty was first formally described in 1795 as Chaetodon tricolor by the German physician and naturalist Marcus Elieser Bloch (1723–1799) with the type locality given as Brazil. When Bernard Germain de Lacépède created the genus Holocanthus he used Chaetodon tricolor as the type species.
The rock beauty was first formally documented in 1795 by German scientist Marcus Elieser Bloch, who identified it as Chaetodon tricolor and specified Brazil as its original location. This classification was later built upon by Bernard Germain de Lacépède when he established the genus Holocanthus.