 "Habenaria ferdinandi" was first formally described in 1911 by Rudolf Schlechter, although he initially gave it the name "Habenaria muelleriana", an illegitimate name because it had been used for a different species by Alfred Cogniaux.The original and the correction were published in "Repertorium Specierum Novarum Regni Vegetabilis".The specific epithet ("ferdinandi") honours the botanist Ferdinand von Mueller.