'antidorcas' originates from Neo-Latin formed from Greek elements 'anti-' and 'dorkas', where 'anti-' meant 'against, opposite' and 'dorkas' meant 'gazelle'.

'antidorcas' was coined as a Neo-Latin scientific genus name (combining Greek elements) and adopted into modern biological English as the genus name 'Antidorcas'.

Initially it literally meant 'against/opposite gazelle' (from the Greek elements), but it evolved into a taxonomic name denoting the genus that includes the springbok.