[2] Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.

[3] The grey-breasted martin was subsequently described by the French polymath, the Comte de Buffon, in 1779 and by the English ornithologist John Latham in 1783.

[4][5][6] The German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin included the grey-breasted martin when he revised and expanded Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae in 1789.

[8] The grey-breasted martin is now one of nine species placed in the genus Progne that was introduced in 1826 by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie.

The adult male is glossy blue-black with the grey-brown throat, breast and sides contrasting with the white lower underparts.