Not stated by the author, probably derived from the Ancient Greek history, as usual in Kinberg. Nicomedes is a Ancient Greek male name, and there are several historical Greek characters recorded to have it, among which four kings of Bithynia, Asia Minor (Nicomedes I, Nicomedes II Epiphanes, Nicomedes III Euergetes, and Nicomedes IV Philopator), a geometrician, an historian, or a Spartan general. Information about these and other historical characters named Nicomedes can be found, for instance, in William Smith's 1849 "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology". "Nicomède" was also the title of a tragedy by the French dramatist Pierre Corneille (1606-1684), first published in 1651 and with a Swedish edition in 1785, with Nicomedes II being the main character of the plot. All things considered, the genus was most likely named after the King of Bithynia Nicomedes II Epiphanes.