The Cisticolidae were formerly included in the "Old World warbler" assemblage and placed in the family Sylviidae.

The name commemorates the French ornithologist Jean Dorst.

It was eventually discovered that these two taxa were one and the same, and that the song of these birds differs enough from the visually very similar red-pate cisticola for reproductive isolation.

Thus, the newly discovered population is usually considered a good species, and the current scientific name is Cisticola guinea, although other taxonomists continue to use dorsti.

This little-known bird was formerly classified as data deficient by the IUCN, mainly due to the uncertainty regarding its taxonomic status.