The name Coleus is derived from the Greek koleos, meaning ‘a sheath’, and refers to the fused stamens of the type species for the genus, and a character that at one time was thought to be diagnostic for this genus. The species name honours David Livingstone (1813-1873), who collected seeds of this species at Mt Zomba in Malawi and send them to Kew. Livingstone was a Scottish physician, Christian missionary and explorer in Africa.

This species was previously called Pycnostachys urticifolia, the genus name meaning ‘dense spike’, referring to the flowerheads, and the species name meaning ‘nettle-like leaves’, referring to the leaves that resemble a species of the true nettle, Urtica. It was moved into the genus Coleus in 2019 after molecular studies on Plectranthus and closely related genera by Paton et al showed that the old definition of the genus Plectranthus did not have a single common ancestor, and that it contained two distinct clades separate from Plectranthus. The one clade including the type species of the former genus Coleus, which led to the re-instatement of the genus Coleus, and the other that is now recognized as the new genus Equilabium. A new, smaller, Plectranthus was redefined. The study also showed that the genera Pycnostachys, Anisochilus, Leocus and some species of Solenostemon belong inside the Coleus clade. 

When it was moved into the genus Coleus, this species lost its former species name urticifolia and had to be given a new name, livingstonei, because there is already a species in India called Coleus urticifolius.

There are two other species of Pycnostachys that occur in South Africa, namely P. reticulata, now called Coleus kirkii and Pycnostachys coerulea, now Coleus stenostachys.