 Shortridge was a South African mammal specialist commissioned to perform fieldwork in Western Australia for the British Museum of Natural History, and was honoured for this by Thomas in the specific epithet of the new taxon.The species is referred to by the common names heath mouse or heath rat, and by the pre-existing name dayang, derived from the Noongar language.Common names also include blunt-faced rat, Shortridge's native mouse, "fausse souris de Shortridge" (French), and "ratón bastardo crestado" (Spanish).