'tabulator' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'tabula', where 'tabula' meant 'table' or 'board'; the agentive suffix '-ator' was later added to form 'one who makes or keeps tables.'

'tabulator' changed from Medieval/ Late Latin use (e.g. Medieval Latin 'tabulator' meaning a person who keeps tables or records) and entered English via French/Latin-derived vocabulary; in the late 19th century the term was extended to mechanical/electrical 'tabulating' machines (e.g. Hollerith's tabulators).

Initially, it meant 'one who keeps or makes tables/records'; over time it also came to mean 'a machine that tabulates data' and now can refer to either people or devices that perform tabulation.