'triaminotriazine' originates from Neo-Latin/Greek formation, specifically from Greek 'tri-' meaning 'three', combined with 'amino' (from 'amine', ultimately from modern chemical Latin/French usage) and 'triazine' (formed from 'tri-' + the suffix '-azine', where 'aza-' relates to nitrogen, itself from French 'azote').

'triaminotriazine' arose in systematic chemical nomenclature in the 19th–20th centuries; it has been used alongside the older common name 'melamine' (from 'melam') and became the preferred descriptive IUPAC-style name for triazines substituted with three amino groups.

Initially it referred specifically to the well-known compound 2,4,6-triamino-1,3,5-triazine (melamine); over time it has been used both for that specific compound and more generally for any triazine bearing three amino substituents.