The name of the country, traditionally called the Argentine in English,^[8][9] is derived from the Latin argentum (silver), which comes from the Ancient Greek ἀργήντος (argēntos), gen. of ἀργήεις (argēeis), "white, shining".^[10] Αργεντινός (argentinos) was an ancient Greek adjective meaning "silvery".^[11] The first use of the name Argentina can be traced to the 1602 poem "La Argentina y conquista del Río de la Plata" (English: The Argentina and the conquest of the Río de la Plata) by Martín del Barco Centenera. Although this name for the Platine region was already in common usage by the 18th century, the area was formally called Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1776. The autonomous governments that emerged from the 1810 May Revolution replaced "Viceroyalty" with a "United Provinces" designation.

One of the first prominent uses of the demonym "Argentine" was in the 1812 first Argentine National Anthem, which made plenty of references to the ongoing Argentine War of Independence. The first formal use of the name "Argentine Republic" was in the 1826 Constitution. Rejecting the document, the territories were instead known as the "Argentine Confederation," and were so named in the 1853 Constitution. Upon the return of the secessionist province of Buenos Aires to the Confederation in 1859, the name was changed to that of the "Argentine Nation," and to the "Argentine Republic" per an October 8, 1860, decree.