"Nepenthes northiana" was first brought to the attention of the scientific community by Marianne North, who painted plants brought to her from the Bau area of Sarawak, Borneo. Harry Veitch, owner of James Veitch & Sons, recognised these as belonging to an as yet undescribed species and sent Charles Curtis to locate a sample and send seeds to the United Kingdom. The species was subsequently named after Marianne North in 1881 by Joseph Dalton Hooker. The type specimen, "M.North s.n.", was collected near Jambusan in Sarawak in 1876. It is deposited at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.