The name refers to the wing-like process on the neural spine of the anterior dorsal vertebra. It was found in the Late Jurassic upper Kalazha Formation of the Qiketia area, Turpan Basin, Xinjiang Uygur or Autonomous Region, in northwestern China.

Type species: Hudiesaurus sinojapanorum [SIE-noh-JAP-a-NOR-um] Latin for “of the Chinese and Japanese” for the nationalities of the members of the expedition that found the specimen.

The Chinese-Japanese character form of the species name can also mean “central part in character” and refers as well to the Chunichi-Shinbun (Central Part Newspaper Company of Japan), the Japanese company that supported the expedition. Named by Chinese paleontologist Zhiming Dong in 1997.