The specific name comes from the Latin tintinnabulum meaning a handbell and probably refers to the fact that small groups of barnacles resemble clusters of miniature bells.

In a monograph on barnacles in 1854, Charles Darwin described the species as being very variable and assigned it to Section A of the genus Balanus, characterised by having the parietes, basis, and radii (different plates in the shell wall) permeated by minute pores.

In 1916, Henry Augustus Pilsbry elevated Balanus tintinnabulum to subspecies rank and in subsequent years a number of varieties were described.

It is distinguished from other members of the genus by having ungrooved growth ridges on the scutum and by the parietes having no spines or spiny projections.

[6] Eggs of M. tintinnabulum are fertilized internally by sperm from another barnacle nearby and start to develop into larvae within a few days.

[7] In the South China Sea, molluscs and acorn barnacles, including Megabalanus tintinnabulum, were primary foulers of hulls and other man-made structures and that their presence allowed algae, hydrozoans, and bryozoans to take hold.