The term BANZSL was coined informally by the linguists Trevor Johnston and Adam Schembri in the early 2000s.

However, in 2024, Schembri remarked that the Wikipedia article on BANZSL had begun describing it with the more specific or authoritative meaning of "the language from which modern BSL and Auslan and New Zealand sign language have descended", a meaning that "took on a life of its own—something that we didn't intend".

[1] As a result, Schembri says he and Johnston have disowned the term due to pushback from Deaf communities, concerned that it is replacing the names of each of the three languages.

[1][2] BSL, Auslan and NZSL all have their roots in a Deaf sign language used in Britain during the 19th century.

The three languages in question are related in their use of similar grammar, manual alphabet, and high degree of lexical overlap.