It is cognate to Old High German: wrendo, wrendilo, and Icelandic: rindill (the latter two including an additional diminutive -ilan suffix).

[2] The wren was also known as the kuningilin ('kinglet') in Old High German, a name associated with the fable of the election of the "king of birds".

This fable was already known to Aristotle (Historia Animalium 9.11)[3] and Pliny (Natural History 10.95),[4][5] and was taken up by medieval authors such as Johann Geiler von Kaisersberg, but it most likely originally concerned kinglets (Regulus, such as the goldcrest) and was apparently motivated by the yellow "crown" sported by these birds (a point noted already by Ludwig Uhland).

[6] The confusion stemmed in part from the similarity and consequent interchangeability of the Ancient Greek words for the wren (βασιλεύς basileus, 'king')[7] and the crest (βασιλίσκος basiliskos, 'kinglet'),[8][9] and the legend's reference to the "smallest of birds" becoming king likely led the title to be transferred to the equally tiny wren.

The dominating colors of their plumage are generally drab, composed of gray, brown, black, and white, and most species show some barring, especially on the tail or wings.

[1] Wrens are principally a New World family, distributed from Alaska and Canada to southern Argentina, with the greatest species richness in the Neotropics.

[14] Though little is known about the feeding habits of many of the Neotropical species, wrens are considered primarily insectivorous, eating insects, spiders, and other small arthropods.

The black-capped donacobius is an enigmatic species traditionally placed with the wrens more for lack of a more apparent alternative than as a result of thorough study.

It was recently determined to be most likely closer to certain warblers, possibly the newly established Megaluridae, and might constitute a monotypic family.

[17] The genus level cladogram of the Troglodytidae shown below is based on a molecular phylogenetic study by Tyler Imfeld and collaborators that was published in 2024.

[18] The number of species in each genus is based on the list maintained by Frank Gill, Pamela C. Rasmussen and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithological Committee (IOC).

[20] Killing one or harassing its nest is associated with bad luck, such as broken bones, lightning strikes on homes, or injury to cattle.

[21] A possible origin for the tradition is revenge for the betrayal of Saint Stephen by a noisy wren when he was trying to hide from enemies in a bush.