The genus Rickettsia is named after Howard Taylor Ricketts (1871–1910), who studied Rocky Mountain spotted fever in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana, and eventually died of typhus after studying that disease in Mexico City.
O nome do xénero procede do investigador Howard Taylor Ricketts (1871–1910), que estudou a febre manchada das Montañas Rochosas en Montana, e que finalmente acabou morrendo de tifo ao estudar esa enfermidae en México.