'apogon' originates from New Latin, specifically from the Greek word 'apógōn' (ἀπόγων), where the prefix 'a-' meant 'without' and 'pogon' meant 'beard'.

'apogon' was used in Greek as 'apógōn'; it was later adopted into New Latin as the taxonomic genus name 'Apogon', and from there entered English usage as 'apogon' referring to fishes of that genus.

Initially the element meant 'beardless' (literally 'without beard'), but over time it came to be used as the name of a genus of small marine fishes and now denotes those fishes.