The genus "Delichon" was created by American naturalist Thomas Horsfield and British entomologist Frederic Moore in 1854 to accommodate the Nepal house martin that was first described by Moore in the same year, and is therefore the type species for the genus. The two other house martins were moved to "Delichon" from the genus "Chelidon" in which they had been placed up to that time. The name of the new genus, ""Delichon"", is an anagram of the Ancient Greek term χελιδον/"chelidôn", meaning swallow.