Two specimens of a troodontid were described in 2002. They are both housed in the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, under the specimen numbers IVPP V 12615 and IVPP V 12583. Xu Xing, Mark Norell, and colleagues authored the study describing them, finding the specimens to represent a new taxon, for which was chosen the binomial "Sinovenator changii". The generic name was derived from the Latin word "Sinae", for China, and "Venator", or "hunter". Meemann Chang is honoured by the species name for her contributions to the study of the Jehol Fauna. As Chang is a female researcher, the epithet should have been "changae"; however, such mistakes cannot be emended according to the rules of the ICZN and therefore forms such as "Sinovenator changae" or "Sinovenator changiae" that sometimes appear in the literature, are incorrect.