It is found from Mexico south to Costa Rica, and on the islands of Jamaica and Hispaniola (in the Dominican Republic and Haiti).

It was formerly classified as a subspecies of the common potoo (Nyctibius griseus) but is now usually treated as a separate species based on differences in vocalizations.

The northern potoo was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae.

[5][6] The genus name is from Ancient Greek nuktibios meaning "night-feeding", from nux night and bios "life".

The common potoo is virtually identical in appearance, but has a very different voice consisting of a series of mournful, wailing whistles.

It mainly occurs in lowland areas where it inhabits woodland and scrubland with clearings and farmland with scattered trees.

[1] The Mopan people believe that if a northern potoo (Mopán: ajsooch’) flies over a person's house repeatedly at night, someone in that family will die.