Clipping of turkey-cock and turkey-hen '(originally) the guinea fowl (family Numididae)', which was imported to Europe by Turkey merchants through Turkey. The word was then applied to the larger northern American bird Meleagris gallopavo which was brought to Spain by conquistadors in 1523. This transfer of the name may have occurred because the two birds were considered similar to each other, or because the North American turkey was in part introduced through Ottoman territories, or simply to indicate that it was foreign.

From Ancient Greek μελεαγρίς 'guinea fowl' (Arist.HA559a25, Clytusi, Scyl.112, Agatharch. 81). The helmeted guineafowl was formally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Phasianus meleagris. In 1764, Linnaeus moved the helmeted guineafowl to the new genus Numida. The genus name Numida is Latin for "North African".
In the early days of the European colonisation of North America, the native wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) was confused with this species. The word meleagris, Greek for guineafowl, is also shared in the scientific names of the two species, though for the guineafowl it is the species name, whereas for the turkey, it is the name of the genus.