The Cape lobster was first described by Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Herbst in 1792 as "Cancer (Astacus) capensis". It was independently described in 1793 by Johan Christian Fabricius as "Astacus flavus", possibly based on the same type specimen. When Friedrich Weber erected the genus "Homarus" in 1795, he included Fabricius' species in it, but this placement was not followed by later authors. The species reached its current classification in 1995, when the monotypic genus "Homarinus" was erected by Irv Kornfield, Austin B. Williams and Robert S. Steneck.