The name Qilong derives from the Chinese words qi (energy, flow, air, gas) and leong [or long] (dragon, king, emperor), a name originally granted to translate the name of a Dashanpu theropod, Gasosaurus. Originally, I thought this name applied to "Yandusaurus" multidens, but I was corrected on this matter by Ben Creisler after the website in its original incarnation had been up for over a year, and thus that the name had become well-established. The name now does not refer to the animal, but the site; the animal however, as featured on the home and this pages, has become a sort of "mascot."