The pale crag martin was first formally described in 1850 by German ornithologist Jean Cabanis as "Cotyle obsoleta", using a specimen collected from near Cairo, Egypt. It was moved to the new genus "Ptyonoprogne", created by German ornithologist Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach, in the same year. The genus name is derived from the Ancient Greek "ptuon" (πτύον), "a fan", referring to the shape of the opened tail, and Procne (Πρόκνη), a mythological girl who was turned into a swallow. The specific name "obsoleta" means "worn" in Latin.