The genus name Babiana is derived from the Dutch baviaantje , meaning little baboon. The name alludes to observations made by early colonists at the Cape who noticed that the local Chacma baboons, the world's most southerly-occurring primates, were very partial to their corms. The British botanist J.B. Ker Gawler formally established the genus Babiana when he described B. plicata Ker Gawl. (now B. fragrans ), the type species, in Curtis's Botanical Magazine in 1802. Babiana villosa was described posthumously by the Swedish naturalist Daniel Solander (1733-1782) as Ixia villosa in William Aiton's Hortus Kewensis, published in 1789. The specific name villosa is descriptive of the short soft hairs which clothe the leaf surfaces. Ker Gawler later transferred the species to Babiana in Curtis's Botanical Magazine in 1802.

Babianas have aroused the interest of gardeners and horticulturists for centuries and their popularity today continues mainly in the form of colourful hybrids, probably originating from crosses between Babiana angustifolia and B. stricta that are commonly grown in rock gardens in mild climates, and as container plants in colder parts. The cultivation of pure species is confined largely to the attentions of specialist collectors. The wide diversity in flower colour and the very different flower shapes encountered (actinomorphic to tubular to strongly zygomorphic) places the aesthetic appeal of the species well above that of commonly grown hybrids but, as is so often the case, maintaining pure species in cultivation over the long term poses a far greater challenge than keeping hybrids alive. Several Babiana species are additionally desirable for the grower in being strongly fragrant, such as the sweetly scented B. ambigua, B. nana and B. odorata , and the strongly clove-scented B. fragrans. Some other species highly recommended for cultivation include deep violet forms of B. angustifolia , the oversized, sulphur-yellow blooms of B. pygmaea and the bicoloured blue-and-red flowers of B. rubrocyanea.