Hydrobata Vieillot, 1816. Under the rules of the ICZN the family Hydrobatidae Degland, 1849 thus became unavailable as the type genus had been suppressed. This cleared the way for the family Hydrobatidae introduced in 1912 by Mathews.

The genus Hydrobates was erected in 1822 by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie. He listed two species but did not specify a type. In 1884 Spencer Baird, Thomas Brewer