The genus was named in 2003 by Wang Xiaolin and Zhou Zhimin. The type species is Liaoningopterus gui. The genus name is derived from Liaoning and a Latinised Greek pteron, "wing". The specific name honours Professor Gu Zhiwei, an invertebrate specialist who has pioneered the study of the Jehol Biota. The preserved cervical vertebra has a centrum length of 46 millimetres and a centrum height of 34 millimetres. From the wing bones pieces of the first phalanx can be recognised which had an estimated total length of about fifty centimetres.