Aves was named by Linnaeus (1758). It is extant.

It was reranked as the order Aves by Baur (1887), Huene (1954), Bakker and Galton (1974); it was reranked as the unranked clade Aves by Säve-Söderbergh (1934), Gardiner (1982), Hutchinson and Padian (1997), Holtz (1998), Padian et al. (1999), Norell and Clarke (2001), Senter et al. (2004), Senter (2007); it was reranked as the superorder Aves by Bakker (1986); it was reranked as the infraclass Aves by Gauthier et al. (1989), Clarke et al. (2005), Livezey and Zusi (2007).

It was assigned to Vertebrata by Owen (1859); to Monocondylia by Haeckel (1866); to Sauropsida by Baur (1887); to Gnathostomata by Gadow (1898); to Tetrapoda by Jaekel (1911); to Reptiliomorpha by Säve-Söderbergh (1934); to Archosauromorpha by Huene (1954); to Dinosauria by Bakker and Galton (1974); to Haemothermia by Gardiner (1982); to Dinoaves by Bakker (1986); to Coelurosauria by Gauthier et al. (1989); to Vertebrata by Hay (1902), Case (1904), Hay (1930), Thurmond and Jones (1981), Shoshani et al. (1989); to Coelurosauria by Gauthier and Padian (1985), Currie (1995); to Chordata by Barnes (1998), Sepkoski (2002); to Maniraptora by Benton (1990), Novas (1992), Chatterjee (1993), Holtz (1995), Holtz (1996), Hutchinson and Padian (1997), Holtz (1998), Rauhut (2003); to Avialae by Padian et al. (1999), Holtz (2000), Senter (2007), Livezey and Zusi (2007); to Eumaniraptora by Chatterjee and Templin (2007); to Ornithurae by Gauthier (1986), Norell and Clarke (2001), Clarke et al. (2005), Kurochkin et al. (2013); and to Paraves by Sereno (1997), Sereno (1998), Sereno (1999), Senter et al. (2004), O'Connor and Sullivan (2014).