moved the species in 1862 to the newly erected genus Pseudorca, which established it as being neither a porpoise nor a killer whale. The name "false killer whale" comes from the apparent similarity between its skull and that of the killer whale.

The false killer whale is in the family Delphinidae (oceanic dolphins). It is in the subfamily Globicephalinae; its closest living relatives are Risso's dolphin, the melon-headed whale