Galeocerdo was named by Müller and Henle (1837) [Sepkoski's age data: T Eo-l R Sepkoski's reference number: 884]. It is extant. Its type is Galeocerdo tigrinus.

It was assigned to Squalidae by Gibbes (1847), Leidy (1873); to Galeorhininae by Hay (1902); to Galeorhinidae by Jordan and Gilbert (1919); to Carchariidae by Davis (1888), Woodward (1889), Chapman and Pritchard (1904), Jordan (1907), Chapman (1918), Chapman and Cudmore (1924); to Carcharidae by Ameghino (1901), Bohm (1926); to Lamnidae by Leriche (1942); to Eulamiidae by Rapp (1946); to Galeidae by Jordan (1963); to Isuridae by Deraniyagala (1969); to Carcharhiniformes by Sepkoski (2002); to Carcharinidae by White (1926), Dartevelle and Casier (1943), Casier (1958), Vicens and Rodríguez-Perea (2003); to Galeocerdidae by Ebersole et al. (2019), Rana et al. (2021), Cicimurri et al. (2022), Verma (2024), Popov et al. (2025); to Carcharhinidae by Case (1981), Thurmond and Jones (1981), Bendix-Almgreen (1983), Kumar and Loyal (1987), Purdy et al. (2001), Compagno (2005), Rana et al. (2006), Kocsis (2007), Maisch et al. (2014), Reinecke and Radwanski (2015), Hastings and Dooley (2017), Kent (2018), van der Laan (2019), Cantalice et al. (2019), Landini et al. (2019), Villafaña et al. (2020), Cantalice et al. (2025); to Galeocerdonidae by Ebersole et al. (2024), Maisch IV et al. (2025), Cicimurri et al. (2025); and to Galeocerdinae by Noubhani and Cappetta (1997), Landau et al. (2025).