Blanford's fruit bat was described as a new species in 1891 by English zoologist Oldfield Thomas, who put it in the genus Cynopterus (C.

[2] The eponym for its specific epithet "blanfordi" is English naturalist William Thomas Blanford.

He justified the inclusion of C. blanfordi in this genus as opposed to Cynopterus due to its lack of a calcar and the development of the incisors, whose shape he called "peculiar".

[4] It occurs in several countries in South and Southeast Asia, including Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam.

[1] The IUCN listed no major threats to the species,[1] but the first record of it in Laos was an individual sold as bushmeat at a market.