'Arzawa' originates from Anatolian (recorded in Hittite and Luwian) usage; the name appears in Hittite cuneiform as 'Arzawa' (or similar spellings) referring to the western Anatolian region.

'Arzawa' was recorded in Late Bronze Age Hittite and related Anatolian sources; the name entered modern scholarship through philological study of Hittite and Luwian texts and so became the English form 'Arzawa'.

Initially it denoted a specific region or group of polities in western Anatolia; in modern usage it designates that ancient region/kingdom in historical and archaeological contexts.