 Boettger was married, and he honored his wife, Hermine Boettger, by naming a species of snake after her, "Cyclophiops herminae".As a taxonomist he described many species of amphibians and reptiles new to science.In 1911 famed zoologist George Albert Boulenger (1858–1937) dedicated the species "Anolis boettgeri" to Boettger, defined as a Peruvian anole of the family Dactyloidae.