The blue-crowned lorikeet was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae.

[2] Gmelin based his description on the "Blue crested parrakeet" that had been described in 1781 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his A General Synopsis of Birds.

[3][4] The blue-crowned lorikeet is now placed in the genus Vini that was introduced in 1833 by the French naturalist René Lesson.

They frequent areas with flowering trees, including coconut plantations and gardens, usually in small flocks of less than about 15 individuals or in pairs during breeding season.

The blue-crowned lory nests in holes in trees, but may also dig burrows in earth banks.