Cretolamna was named by Glikman (1958) [Sepkoski's age data: K Albi T Eo-u Sepkoski's reference number: 884].

It was corrected as Cretalamna by Shimada (2006), Shimada et al. (2006), Shimada (2007), Shimada and Martin (2008), Bogan and Agnolin (2010), Underwood et al. (2011), Bourdon et al. (2011), Cook et al. (2013), Siversson et al. (2015), Bice and Shimada (2016), Siversson and Machalski (2017), Hoganson et al. (2019), Amalfitano et al. (2020), Maisch et al. (2021), Ebersole et al. (2022), Juranek and Shimada (2025).

It was assigned to Lamniformes by Sepkoski (2002); to Cretoxyrhinidae by Cappetta and Case (1975), Itoigawa (1977), Herman (1977), Case (1979), Case and Schwimmer (1988), Case (1989), Case (1991), Müller and Diedrich (1991), Siverson (1992), Siverson (1996), Shimada (1996), Siverson (1997), Kriwet (1999), Cappetta and Corral (1999), Cappetta and Case (1999), Zalmout and Mustafa (2001), Cappetta and Odin (2001), Case et al. (2001), Cicimurri (2003), Shimada (2006), Shimada et al. (2006), Shimada (2007), Cahuzac et al. (2007), Bogan and Agnolin (2010), Amalfitano et al. (2020); and to Otodontidae by Shimada and Martin (2008), Underwood et al. (2011), Bourdon et al. (2011), Cook et al. (2013), Cicimurri et al. (2014), Siversson et al. (2015), Corral et al. (2016), Bice and Shimada (2016), Siversson and Machalski (2017), Guinot and Carrillo-Briceño (2018), Hoganson et al. (2019), Maisch et al. (2021), Ebersole et al. (2022), Guinot et al. (2023), Juranek and Shimada (2025).