The genus name is from the Ancient Greek terms karpos, "fruit", and dakno, "to bite".

The Carpodacus rosefinches occur throughout Eurasia, but the greatest diversity is found in the Sino-Himalayas suggesting that the species originated in this region.

[6] In 2012, Zuccon and colleagues published a comprehensive molecular phylogenetic analysis of the finch family.

[7][8] Sillem's rosefinch originally had the common name "Sillem's mountain finch" and was assigned to the genus Leucosticte but a phylogenetic analysis using mitochondrial DNA sequences published in 2016 found that the species belonged to the genus Carpodacus.

First to split off were the ancestors of the North American species, the common rosefinch, and the scarlet finch, generally placed in its own genus.

[12] Molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that Hawaiian honeycreepers are closely related to the rosefinches in the genus Carpodacus.