Galanthus reginae-olgae epithet "reginae-olgae" means 'of Queen Olga'; Olga Constantinovna of Russia was then Queen of Greece. The species (or when divided into subspecies, its autonymous subspecies) has been treated as "Galanthus nivalis" subsp. "reginae-olgae". Other regularly used synonyms include "G. olgae" and "G. corcyrensis". The name "Galanthus corcyrensis" has been particularly used for plants that flower in the autumn with the leaves rather than before them. The species has been divided into two subspecies, distinguished by the time of flowering: There is however no sharp division between these two subspecies. "Galanthus reginae-olgae" is native to Sicily and parts of the Balkans,
Luzula nivalis ("to shine, sparkle") or the Latin "luzulae" or "luxulae", from "lux" ("light"), inspired by the way the plant's hairs sparkle when wet with dew. "Nivalis" is Latin for snowy, snow-covered or snow-like. The exact taxonomy of "Luzula nivalis" is a little confusing due to confusions over the naming of the taxon; the name "L. arctica" has frequently (though less occasionally in recent years) been applied this taxon, or it has been regarded as a separate species altogether. Elven et al. (2003) stated that "a number of authors (Hultén 1968, Böcher et al. 1968, Porsild and Cody 1980, Novikov 1990) have