The authorship of the generic name Gigantopteris remains notoriously confusing, although the gigantopterids have been extensively reported from the Late Paleozoic and the early Mesozoic of Asia and North America. Here, it is elucidated that Hisakatsu Yabe was the first to validly publish the name Gigantopteris, originally proposed by August Schenk. The author of the genus name should therefore be cited as Gigantopteris Yabe, or Gigantopteris Schenk ex Yabe. Previous author citations ascribed to Gigantopteris are incorrect.