Original description as Oligocephalus grahami:
- Girard, Charles Frederic. 1859. "Ichthyological notices". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 11:113-122 (ffm04560)
Synonyms (1):
- Boleichthys elegans Girard, 1859, with type locality at Piedrapainte, Texas, U.S.A. Determiner: Collette et al., 1967
Conservation: Etheostoma grahami is evaluated by the international union for the conservation of nature in the iucn red list of threatened species as (VU) vulnerable (1996).