Cordyceps species (Cordycipitaceae, Hypocreales) were previously mentioned under dominant genera such as basidiomycetous Clavaria Vaill. ex L. and ascomycetous Sphaeria Haller. Cordyceps Fr. was coined by Fries (1818) from a combination of a Greek word cordyle, meaning a club, and a Latin word caput, meaning a head. Cordyceps was, however, ranked at tribal level under Sphaeria by Fries (1823). Link (1833) later re-elevated Cordyceps to genus level. As a result, there was variation on author citation of Cordyceps in different botanical codes such as Cordyceps (E. M. Fries) Link (1833), Cordyceps E. M. Fries (1818) and Cordyceps Fr. (1824). In 19th and 20th centuries, more and more species were described, with necessity to divide Cordyceps into subgenera, sections and subsections based on morphological similarities. Recent molecular phylogenetic studies, however, showed that Cordyceps is polyphyletic and its members are dispersed in various clades within Hypocreales. As a consequence, Cordyceps was amended in strict sense by Sung et al. (2007) and distantly related clades were named under separate genera. Here, we review recent nomenclatural changes of Cordyceps-related fungi in light of recent changes in the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN).