They are all very similar-looking birds, with heads resembling that of a northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis, a true member of the Cardinalidae), though they are somewhat more slender, in particular the rather tanager-like bill.

Their coloration is also typical; they are quite unlike any Cardinalidae, though they bear a passing resemblance to adult male rose-breasted grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus).

Like these, they are white below and dark above (grey to blackish in the case of Paroaria).

The genus Paroaria was introduced in 1832 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte with the red-crested cardinal as the type species.

[2][3] The name is from Tiéguacú paroára, a name for a small yellow, red and grey bird in the extinct Tupi language.