'Archaeopterygiformes' originates from Greek and Latin: Greek 'archaios' meaning 'ancient' and Greek 'pteryx' meaning 'wing', combined with the Latinized suffix '-iformes' (from Latin 'formis') meaning 'in the form of' or 'having the form of'.

'Archaeopterygiformes' was formed in modern biological taxonomy by combining the genus name 'Archaeopteryx' with the ordinal suffix '-iformes' (a convention for naming orders), producing the order name 'Archaeopterygiformes'.

Initially the roots referred specifically to the genus name meaning 'ancient wing'; over time the combined form has come to denote an order-level group of taxa resembling or related to Archaeopteryx rather than only the single genus.