It is, as suggested by its common name, endemic to the island of Borneo,[2] being found in the sections belonging to Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The Bornean ground cuckoo was described as Calobates radiceus by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck in 1832 based on a female specimen from Pontianak district in Borneo.

[4] Additionally, it is also a junior homonym of the genus Calobates, established by the German naturalist Johann Jacob Kaup in 1829.

[5][6] The specific name, radiceus, is either from the Neo-Latin radius (rod or staff) or radicis (foundation).

[7] It is thought to be an error for radiatus or radiosus, with Temminck himself referring to the species by those names in other writings, but the original description does not provide enough evidence to emend the name.