There is not yet a naming consensus. Below are listed several terms that have been used, past and present. One challenge in taxonomy is that some patterns of behavior are labeled by experts symptoms or sub-types of ADHD, while other experts label those same patterns as their own disorders, independent of ADHD. For the purposes of this article, the "Terminology" section will be used only to name ADHD and its near equivalents, while the names for its manifestations and subtypes will be listed in 'Symptoms', below.

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): In 1987, ADD was in effect renamed to ADHD in the DSM-III-R. In it, ADHD was broken down into three subtypes (see 'symptoms' for more details):
o predominantly inattentive ADHD
o predominantly hyperactive-impulsive ADHD
o combined type ADHD

Attention deficit disorder (ADD): This term was first introduced in DSM-III, the 1980 edition. Is considered by some to be obsolete, and by others to be a synonym for the predominantly inattentive type of ADHD.

Undifferentiated attention-deficit disorder (UADD): This term was first introduced in the DSM-III-R, the 1987 edition. This was a miscellaneous category, and no formal diagnostic criteria were provided. UADD is approximately the predominantly inattentive type of ADHD in the DSM-IV-TR. The DSM-III-R diagnosis of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder required hyperactive-impulsive symptoms in addition to the inattentive symptoms.

Attention-deficit syndrome (ADS): Equivalent to ADHD, but used to avoid the connotations of "disorder".

Hyperkinetic disorders (F90) is the ICD-10 equivalent to ADHD. The ICD-10 does not include a predominantly inattentive type of ADHD because the editors of Chapter V of the ICD-10 believe the inattentivity syndrome may constitute a nosologically distinct disorder.
Disturbance of activity and attention
Hyperkinetic conduct disorder is a mixed disorder involving hyper kinetic symptoms along with presence of conduct disorder
Hyper kinetic disorder, unspecified

Hyper kinetic syndrome (HKS): Equivalent to ADHD, but largely obsolete in the United States, still used in some places world wide.

Minimal cerebral dysfunction (MCD): Equivalent to ADHD, but largely obsolete in the United States, though still commonly used internationally.

Minimal brain dysfunction or Minimal brain damage (MBD): Similar to ADHD, now obsolete.

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