'artemia' originates from New Latin as the scientific genus name 'Artemia', likely alluding to the Greek name 'Artemis' (the goddess), where the reference is to the proper name rather than a common root meaning.

'Artemia' was adopted as a zoological genus name in modern scientific Latin; it has been used in taxonomic literature since the 18th–19th centuries and retained in modern English as both the scientific and common name for these brine shrimp.

Initially used as a formal taxonomic (genus) name, the term 'artemia' has broadened in modern usage to refer also to the organisms collectively and to their cysts/nauplii used in aquaculture.