Alternative common (/"official") names for budgerigar include Shell Parrot, Warbling Grass parakeet, Canary Parrot, Zebra parrot, Flight Bird, Scallop Parrot and the alternate spellings Budgerygah and Betcherrygah.

The Budgerigar was first described by George Shawn in 1805, and given it's current binomical name by John Gould in 1840. The genus name Melopsittacus comes from Greek and mean "melodius parrot". The species name undulatus is Latin for "undulated" or "wave-patterned".

"Blue parakeet" though isn't budgie's common name, it is just a way to describe it sometimes.

Many larger cockatoos are also called "white cockatoos". African grey parrots are called "grey parrots", and whitefaced lutino cockatiels are miscalled "albinos" even there is not and never been one registered albino cockatiel in a whole world.

Albino is one certain gene that will sometimes, in rare occations, occur in normal colored animals' litter, where WF lutino cockatiels only "wear" the color mutation, not the albino gene. But it's a way to describe the bird with somewhat white looks and red eyes.

The word budgie comes from 'budgerigar', which is derived from the langauge of the Australian Aborigines. The original aboriginal word has variously been written as betchery-gah, betcherrigah, boodgereegar and budgerygah - the reason for the variation is that these are just English interpretations of the aboriginal language.

Budgerigars were popular food for the Aborigines, and the word literally means "good food". which means in their language, 'good to eat'. The hunters would lie in wait for the budgies which, in the early morning and late evening, would come to feed on the grasses, or drink at the waterholes. They were then killed with throwing sticks, with the people gathering them in armfuls to bring back to camp.

There have been suggestions that it is an urban myth that the name budgerigar means 'good food', but several Australian sources authenticate the claim.