The species was first described in 1908 by the American scientist Roy Chapman Andrews from a specimen collected at New Brighton Beach, Canterbury Province, New Zealand, in 1904.

He named it in honor of George S. Bowdoin, a donor and trustee to the American Museum of Natural History.

The lower jaw is peculiar in that halfway through it rises up significantly with the teeth extending over the rostrum.

The male, overall dark gray to black, has a lighter "saddle" marking between the blowhole and dorsal fin on its back.

Andrews' beaked whales live in the Southern Hemisphere, and the precise range is uncertain.