Yang Zhongjian
"Sanchiaosaurus" was first described and named by Yang Zhongjian, also known as Chung-Chien Young, in 1965 and the type species is "Sanchiaosaurus dengi". The generic name is derived from "Sanchiao", in reference to the locality where the holotype was found, and from Greek "saurus", meaning "lizard", a common suffix for genus names of extinct reptile.