'o-aminobenzoic' originates from modern chemical nomenclature combining the prefix 'o-' (from 'ortho') with 'amino' and 'benzoic'; 'o-' comes from Greek 'orthos' meaning 'straight' or 'correct', 'amino' from 'amine' (related to ammonia), and 'benzoic' from 'benzoin' (a resin name ultimately from Arabic and Medieval Latin influences).

'o-aminobenzoic' developed as systematic organic nomenclature in the 19th and 20th centuries: the positional prefix 'ortho-' was used to indicate adjacent substitution on a benzene ring, combined with 'amino' and 'benzoic' to describe the specific substituted benzoic acid; this produced the modern term 'o-aminobenzoic'.

Initially, parts of the compound name referred to separate historical substances (for example, 'benzoic' from resin names); over time these elements were standardized into systematic chemical nomenclature to mean 'an amino-substituted benzoic acid at the ortho position', which is the current meaning.