In his 1924 paper, Osborn explained that the name was given due to the close proximity of the skull of Oviraptor to the nest (it was separated from the eggs by only 4 inches or 10 centimetres of sand).
Osborn je 1924. objasnio da mu je dato takvo ime jer je lubanja Oviraptora bila vrlo blizu jajima (dijelilo ih je samo četiri inča pijeska).