(bare, naked) combined with "rhis" or "rhinos" (nostrils), alluding to their uncovered and bare nostrils and the Latin tibicen "flute-player" or "piper" in reference to the bird's melodious call.

An early recorded vernacular name is piping poller, written on a painting by Thomas Watling, one of a group known collectively as the Port Jackson Painter, some time between 1788 and 1792. Other names used include piping crow-shrike,