We present evidence supporting the widely accepted interpretation that the genus name Lestes Leach, 1815, is based on the Greek masculine word λῃστής [lēstēs] meaning ‘robber or pirate’. Comparison of Leach’s brief definition of Lestes with that of the genus Agrion Fabricius, 1775, from which the new genus was split, suggests that W.E. Leach selected the piratical name because the males of species in this genus are armed with pincer-shaped appendages; hence the name is an allusion to the edged weapons carried by pirates. The common view that the name was suggested by the voracious predatory behaviour of lestids, as well as the interpretation that the genus name is based on the French word leste [= nimble] are both rejected.