These birds are found in dense grass or scrub in Africa and South Asia.

[3] The genus Amandava was introduced in 1836 by the English zoologist Edward Blyth for the red avadavat.

[4] The name is derived by tautomony with the binomial name Fringilla amandava introduced for the red avadavat by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.

The word amandava is a corruption of Ahmedabad, a city in the Indian state of Gujarat.

The two avadavats, which are very closely related, are found in tropical South Asia, and the waxbill in Africa.