'Bactris' originates from New Latin, ultimately adopted from Greek where a root similar to 'baktron' meant 'stick' or 'staff', referring to the slender, cane‑like or spiny stems of some species.

'Bactris' was established as a botanical (New Latin) genus name in modern taxonomic usage and has been retained in scientific literature from the 18th–19th centuries to the present as the name for this genus of palms.

Initially the root referred to a 'stick' or 'staff', but over time the term was applied in botanical Latin as the formal name of a genus; its modern meaning is the taxonomic name for this group of palms.