'argemone' originates from botanical New Latin, ultimately from Classical Latin 'argemone', which in turn comes from Greek 'ἀργεμώνη' (argemōnē), the name of a plant (a kind of poppy).

'argemone' changed from the Classical Greek word 'ἀργεμώνη', passed into Latin as 'argemone', and was later adopted in botanical Latin and modern scientific usage as the genus name 'Argemone'.

Initially, it referred in ancient sources to a particular plant (a poppy-like plant); over time it became the technical botanical name for the genus of prickly poppies in modern English.