The genus name of Afzelia is in honour of Adam Afzelius (1750–1837), a Swedish botanist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus.

Both Afzelia and Intsia, along with Brodriguesia form the clade Afzelieae within the legume subfamily Detarioideae.

[3] The earliest definitive record of Afzelia in the fossil record is a well-preserved, compression fossil of a leaflet (with cuticle) from the late Oligocene (27.23 Ma) Guang River flora of northwestern Ethiopia (Amhara), named Afzelia afro-arabica.

[4] Numerous other records, some which may represent Afzelia (or potentially, Intsia), are known fossil wood occurrences from the Paleogene and Neogene of Africa and Asia and are included in the form genus, Pahudioxylon.

[citation needed] The dense and wavy wood of an Afzelia africana is used in ship-building.