Common names for the species have been assigned or arisen from usage in aviculture, these include the long-tailed finch or longtail, blackheart finch, shaft-tail finch, orange-billed finch or grassfinch.
Heck's grassfinch or finch, or Heck's longtail is applied to the eastern subspecies  Poephila acuticauda hecki with red beaks, and the nominate subspecies with orange or yellow beaks is referred by the common name for the species.