The gerenuk was first described by Victor Brooke in 1879 on the basis of three male specimens procured on "the mainland of Africa, north of the island of Zanzibar". Brooke used the scientific name "Gazella walleri", on the request of Gerald Waller (who provided the specimens) to name it after his deceased brother. The type locality was later corrected by John Kirk, who originally obtained the specimens on the "coast near the River Juba in southern Somaliland" before giving them to Waller. In 1886, Franz Friedrich Kohl proposed a new genus for the gerenuk, "Litocranius". The common name derives from the Somali name for the animal ("gáránúug"); the first recorded use of the name dates back to 1895. It is also known as the "giraffe gazelle" due to its similarity to the giraffe.