'atherosperma' originates from Greek, specifically the elements 'athēra' and 'sperma', where 'athēra' meant 'chaff' and 'sperma' meant 'seed'.

'atherosperma' was formed as a Modern Latin botanical name by combining Greek roots and adopted into scientific Latin usage as the genus name for certain trees; it entered botanical nomenclature in the 19th century.

Initially it literally meant 'chaff-seed' (describing a seed characteristic), but over time it has been used primarily as the proper name of a tree genus.