'Arecaceae' originates from New Latin, formed from the genus name 'Areca' plus the Latin family suffix '-aceae' (meaning 'family').

'Arecaceae' was adopted in modern botanical nomenclature to name the palm family; earlier works often used the name 'Palmae' for the same group, and taxonomic standardization led to the use of 'Arecaceae'.

Initially used to denote the group of palms associated with the genus 'Areca', the term evolved into the standardized family name for all palms in modern botany.