Crocodilia was named by Owen (1842) [originally spelled Crocodilia by Owen; corrected by Wermuth 1953; also falsely attributed to Laurenti 1768 (based on naming of Crocodylus) and Gmelin 1789 (see Dundee 1989)]. It is extant. It was considered monophyletic by Thies et al. (1997).

It was synonymized subjectively with Emydosaurii by Bonaparte (1850); it was reranked as the subclass Crocodilia by Gadow (1898), Perrier (1928); it was synonymized subjectively with Loricata by Hay (1902), Hay (1930); it was reranked as the suborder Crocodili by Jaekel (1910), Jaekel (1911); it was corrected as Crocodylia by Kuhn (1966), Haubold (1971), Bakker and Galton (1974), Haubold (1974), Cooper (1981), Holman and Case (1988), Carroll (1988), Frank and Ramus (1996), Thies et al. (1997), Sereno et al. (2001), Peng et al. (2001), Pearson et al. (2002); it was reranked as the suborder Crocodylia by Walker (1970); it was reranked as the unranked clade Crocodilia by Gardiner (1982); it was reranked as the unranked clade Crocodylia by Gauthier et al. (1989), Williamson (1996), Brochu (2000), Molnar et al. (2002), Brochu (2004), Hua and Jouve (2004), Brochu (2006), Salisbury et al. (2006), Turner (2006), Brochu et al. (2009), Andrade et al. (2011), Bronzati et al. (2012), Rio and Mannion (2021), Burke et al. (2024).

It was assigned to Sauria by Owen (1859); to Sauropsida by Baur (1887); to Diapsida by Osborn (1903), Osborn (1903); to Diaptosauria by Osborn (1904); to Loricati by Jaekel (1910), Jaekel (1911); to Archosauromorpha by Huene (1954); to Archosauria by Kuhn (1966); to Crocodylomorpha by Walker (1970); to Archosauria by Gardiner (1982); to Crocodyliformes by Gauthier et al. (1989); to Crocodilomorphi by Cooper (1981), Williamson (1996); to Archosauria by Haughton and Brink (1954), Kuhn (1964), Charig (1967), Haubold (1971), Bakker and Galton (1974), Haubold (1974), Thulborn (1975), Thurmond and Jones (1981), Thies et al. (1997); to Archosauria by Roxo (1937), Carroll (1988), Peng et al. (2001); to Reptilia by Mantell (1854), Owen (1860), Owen (1861), Cope (1871), Leidy (1873), Cope (1875), Günther (1886), Zittel (1890), Gadow (1898), Woodward (1898), Case (1901), Case (1904), Andrews (1906), Lambe (1908), Perrier (1928), Swinton (1934), Kuhn (1946), Estes (1964), Estes and Berberian (1970), Ellenberger (1972), Sahni and Srivastava (1976), Holman and Case (1988), Frank and Ramus (1996), Pearson et al. (2002), Sepkoski (2002); to Eusuchia by Brochu (2000), Hua and Jouve (2004); to Neosuchia by Sereno et al. (2001), Turner (2006); and to Eusuchia by Molnar et al. (2002), Brochu (2004), Brochu (2006), Salisbury et al. (2006), Brochu et al. (2009), Andrade et al. (2011), Bronzati et al. (2012), Rio and Mannion (2021), Burke et al. (2024).