'Angami' originates from the Angami people's own name (the Angami language, a Sino-Tibetan language), specifically the autonym 'Angami', where 'Anga' referred to a local place-name and '-mi' meant 'people'.

'Angami' was recorded by 19th-century British colonial ethnographers from the local autonym and entered English usage to denote the tribe; it also appeared in compound forms such as 'Angami Naga'.

Initially it referred primarily to the people of that named area; over time the term has broadened in English usage to refer also to their language and cultural attributes.