 Along with the Mikado pheasant and Taiwan blue magpie, two other Taiwan endemics, the Swinhoe's pheasant is sometimes considered an unofficial national symbol for Taiwan as it bears the colours of the national flag (red, white and blue).The bird was named after the British naturalist Robert Swinhoe, who first described the species in 1862.Locally, the species is known in Mandarin as "lánfùxián" (), and in Taiwanese Hokkien as "wa-koe" (; also ).