[2] The Cronquist system of 1981 assigned the order to the subclass Arecidae in the class Liliopsida (= monocotyledons).

The Thorne system (1992) and the Dahlgren system assigned the order to the superorder Areciflorae, also called Arecanae in the subclass Liliidae (= monocotyledons), with the single family Arecaceae.

The APG II system of 2003 recognised the order and placed it in the clade commelinids in the monocots and uses this circumscription: This was unchanged from the APG system of 1998, although it used the spelling "commelinoids" instead of commelinids.

In plant taxonomy, Principes is a botanical name, meaning "the first".

This order included one family only, the Palmae (alternate name Arecaceae).