The genus Galtonia was created in 1880 by the French botanist Decaisne, and was named after Sir Francis Galton (1822–1911) who published a book on his travels in South Africa, but is better known for his founding work on fingerprints, eugenics and biometrics. The genus comprises 4 species that occur in KwaZulu-Natal and adjacent areas. A 2004 study of the hyacinth family in sub-Saharan Africa, however, transferred all species of Galtonia, and several other genera, into the large genus Ornithogalum. Which is why it is currently called Ornithogalum princeps although, in old literature, it is found as Galtonia princeps. The name Ornithogalum is derived from Greek and means ‘bird’s milk’, and could refer to the thick sap that many species produce, that resembles the ‘pigeon’s milk’ that birds store in their crop to feed their young, or it could refer to their milky white flowers, or it could mean that these flowers are ‘something wonderful’, the ancient Greek meaning of the expression ‘bird’s milk’. The species name princeps is a Latin word meaning ‘first one’, or ‘leader’.