John Latham was a well-known English physician and ornithologist at the end of the 18th and start of the 19th centuries, and had a great interest in Australasian birds.

The snipe breeds mainly in Hokkaidō in northern Japan, with smaller numbers on Honshū, the eastern Russian mainland and Sakhalin and, historically, the Kurile Islands.

The entire population migrates and spends the non-breeding season principally in eastern Australia, where it is the commonest Gallinago snipe.

The snipe's breeding habitat in Asia includes alpine moorland, grasslands, rough pasture, young tree plantations and cultivated areas.

In Australia, it was formerly hunted as a gamebird but is now fully protected and, following assessment in the 2020, is listed as "vulnerable" under the Australian EPBC Act.