There are several distinctive populations within the wide distribution range of this species and in the past the slender-billed oriole (Oriolus tenuirostris) was included as a subspecies.

He used the French name Le loriot de la Cochinchine and the Latin Oriolus Cochinsinensis.

[2] Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.

[3] When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson.

Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the current binomial name Oriolus chinensis ("Chinese oriole") and cited Brisson's work.

[7][8] Twenty subspecies are recognized:[9] The black-naped oriole is medium-sized and overall golden with a strong pinkish bill and a broad black mask and nape.

[10] The subspecies in the Andamans, O. c. andamanensis has all black wings while O. c. macrourus of the Nicobars has a very broad nape band so that only the top of the head is yellow.

[13] The usual call is a nasal niee or myaa and the song (diffusus) is a fluty iwee wee wee-leeow.

Black-naped orioles have been recorded to feed on a range of berries including Trema orientalis, Ficus and others apart from insects.

[18] The breeding season is April to June (January–March in the Nicobars[19]) and the nest is a deep cup in a fork of a tree.