 The description was published in "Hooker's Journal of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany".Its specific epithet ("chordophylla") is derived from Ancient Greek "chorde" meaning "gut", "string of a musical instrument", "twine" or "rope" and "phyllon" meaning "leaf".It belongs to a group of related species known as the corkbarks, or "lorea" group, within the genus "Hakea", most of which are found across Australia's arid interior.