The type species, Emausaurus ernsti, was formalized by Harmut Haubold in 1990.[2] The generic name is composed of an acronym of Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald (Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität or EMAU) and Greek sauros/σαυρος (lizard). The specific name is derived from the name of geologist Werner Ernst, who found the fossil, holotype SGWG 85, in the summer of 1963 at a loampit near Grimmen, in strata dating from the Toarcian. Cladistic analyses showed that Emausaurus was a basal member of the Thyreophora, more derived than Scutellosaurus, but less than Scelidosaurus.