The name of the genus Herpsilochmus is derived from the Ancient Greek words herpō ("creep") and lokhmē ("bush" or "underbrush"). The scientific history of the genus is closely associated with the German naturalist Friedrich Sellow (1789–1831), who traveled to Brazil in 1814 to collect natural history specimens. Between 1816 and 1818, Sellow sent a significant number of bird specimens to Berlin, including Myiothera pileata, which was later reclassified as Herpsilochmus pileatus. Several species currently assigned to the genus are believed to have originated from Sellow’s original collections.

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