The species was first scientifically described by the Swedish naturalist Peter Forsskål in 1775 based on a specimen taken from the Red Sea which he designated to be the holotype. The specific epithet is an Arabic name of the fish (although it is now usually applied to a catfish, "Bagrus bajad", which Forsskål also named), with the letter "j" transcribing a /j/ sound; Forsskål used this technique to name a number of Red Sea fish species. Forsskål at first gave the new taxon subspecies status as "Scomber ferdau bajad", relating it to the mackerels, and especially "Scomber ferdau", which would later also be transferred to "Carangoides". The taxon was later given a species rank, becoming "Scomber bajad", then "Caranx bajad", before being transferred to its current position as "Carangoides bajad".