Why is it called cervical radiculopathy?

Medical terms: Cervical means "neck". There are 7 cervical vertebrae followed by 12 thoracic, then 5 lumbar followed finally by sacral vertebrae. Radiculopathy refers to pain from involvement of a sensory nerve root and that follows a dermatome (the distribution of the involved nerve).

C-SpineRadiculopathy: Radiculopathy refers to pain in the trajectory of a nerve root... Cervical pertains to the neck. There are 7 vertebrae and 8 nerve roots in the neck... Neck and arm pain usually stem from c3-4, c4-5, c5-6, or c6-7. Hope this helps!

Nerve compression: It has that name because it describes a nerve root in the neck being pinched which causes pain to shoot down the arm (radiate in a radicular path).