'astropecten' originates from Modern New Latin (scientific coinage), specifically from Greek 'astron' and Latin 'pecten', where 'astron' meant 'star' and 'pecten' meant 'comb'.

'astropecten' was coined in scientific taxonomy (Modern New Latin) by combining classical roots ('astron' + 'pecten') and entered English use as the taxonomic genus name and as a common noun for members of that genus.

Initially used as a formal genus name in taxonomy, it has also come to be used in English to refer to individual members of that genus (i.e., a type of starfish).