 In his 1901 description of "Oryzomys luciae", Charles Immanuel Forsyth Major mentioned the Barbuda animal as another member of the "Megalomys" group, but he never published a description of the latter.Édouard Louis Trouessart gave the name "Oryzomys (Megalomys) majori" to it in his "Catalogus Mammalium", but he did not describe it and therefore the name is a "nomen nudum".In 1926, Arthur Hopwood finally described it and named it "Megalomys audreyae" after Gregory's wife Audrey, following Major's intention.