Campsicnemus popeye was discovered as a part of Terrestrial Arthropods of French Polynesia Survey funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation. The survey covered the Society Islands of French Polynesia during 2004 and 2007, and the survey successfully discovered dozens of new species. The survey team was led by Neal L. Evenhuis, former president of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature and a Senior Research Entomologist at the Bishop Museum in Hawaii. The formal description was published on 3 August 2013 in the journal Zootaxa. Evenhuis, known for his eccentric style of giving binomial names, gave the specific name C. popeye because the swollen mid-tibia (middle legs) of the fly somewhat resemble the bulging forearms of the well-known cartoon hero Popeye the Sailor Man