The taxonomic name "Mysticeti" () apparently derives from a translation error in early copies of Aristotle's "Historia Animalium" (in Ancient Greek), in which "" ("ho mus to kētos", "the mouse, the whale so called") was mistakenly translated as "" ("ho mustikētos", "the Mysticetus"), which D. W. Rice (of the Society for Marine Mammalogy) in assumed was an ironic reference to the animals' great size. An alternate name for the parvorder is "Mystacoceti" (from Greek "mustache" + "whale"), which, although obviously more appropriate and occasionally used in the past, has been superseded by "Mysticeti" (junior synonym).