List of Indian states by the etymology of their name

The Republic of India was constituted in 1947 as a Union of states. The States Reorganization Act of 1956 rearranged state
boundaries on linguistic lines and hence many states have names in their languages, and usually trace their origins to Sanskrit
except Tamil Nadu (Tamil) and Karnataka (Kannada). Other states are however named due to their geographical characteristics,
peculiar history or populations and colonial influences.

State name (on In State

Meaning Notes
map) Language

Andhra denotes "south" in Sanskrit. Satavahanas were Maurya officials titled

Andhra-Bhritya (Officers of South). The early Indian people in area bore the
name Andhra from the Satavahanas. A Sanskrit term name for Australia is
Andhra Land of the
(Telugu) Andhralaya. At independence, the territory now comprising Andhra Pradesh
Pradesh (1) Andhras.
formed parts of Hyderabad State and Madras State. In 1953, Madras State was
partitioned to create Andhra Pradesh. In 1956, the Telengana region of
Hyderabad State was merged into Andhra Pradesh

Land of the
Arunachal
(Hindi) dawn-lit In Sanskrit, aruna means "dawn-lit" and achal "mountains".
Pradesh (2)
mountains.

অসম Unequalled,
From Ahom, a name given to the ruling Shan people by the inhabitants of the
Assam (3) peerless or
former kingdom of Kamarupa, and later assimilated in the Sanskrit form Asama.
(Assamese) uneven

Foreign invaders often used abandoned viharas as military cantonments; the

word Bihar may have come from the large number of viharas thus employed in
From vihara the area that later became Bihar. Originally Bihar was name of a town, which
Bihar (4) (Hindi) ("Buddhist was headquarter of the Muslim invaders in the Magadha region in the medieval
monastery") period. The town still exists and is called Bihar or Bihar Sharif (Nalanda
District). Later on the headquarter was shifted from Bihar to Patana (current
Patna) by Sher Shah Suri and the whole Magadha region was called Bihar.

Chhattisgarh Built to resist to invading armies. sambhalpur area next to it was called
(Hindi) Thirty-six forts
(5) Attarahgarh or 18 forts.
 The name Goa came to European languages from the Portuguese, but its precise
origin is unclear. The legend of Krishna names a mountain where he saved the
Goa (6) गोय (Konkani) cow hence Gomantak modified to Goa. In the bygone days it came to be known
by many names such as Gomanchala, Gopakapattam, Gopakapuri, Govapuri,
Gomantak, etc.

ગુજરાત
Land of the
Gujarat (7) The Gurjars were a emigrant tribe.
"Gurjars"
(Gujarati)

Haryana (8) हिरयाणा (Hindi) Abode of God Hari refers to the Hindu deity Vishnu. or Hara, Lord Shiva.

Himachal िहमाचल पदेश Land of the snow

In Sanskrit, hima means "snow" and achal "mountain".
Pradesh (9) (Hindi) clad mountains

Jammu and ‫جموں و کشمی‬ Land desiccated From Sanskrit Ka(water) and shimeera(to desiccate). Also known as Valley of
Kashmir (10) (Kashmiri) by water Rishi Kashyapa hence Kashmir.

Jharkhand Land of jhari or Jhari means dense forest in Sanskrit. "Khand" means "land." Another term for
झारखंड (Hindi)
(11) low forest this area is "Vananchal."

From Karu + Naad = Karnaad, which means "lofty + land". "Karnatik" is the
ಕನರಟಕ adjectival form of "Karnaad", means "of Karnaad". Refers to the Deccan plateau.
Karnataka
Lofty Land In 1947, this state was formed from the princely state of Mysore. In 1956, the
(12)
(Kannada) Kannada-speaking regions of neighboring states were added to Mysore State.
The name was changed to Karnataka in 1973.

Kera=coconut and alam=land. May also derive from Sanskrit keralam, meaning
"the land added on" (refers to the myth that Lord Parasurama regained this land
േകരളം
Land of the from the sea). At independence, this territory was divided among several
Kerala (13)
coconut trees jurisdictions, primarily the territories of Travancore and Cochin. In 1949, the
(Malayalam)
state of Travancore-Cochin was created. In 1956, this area, with further boundary
changes, was renamed Kerala.

Prior to independence, the majority of this area was administered by the British
as the Central Provinces and the Central Indian States. At independence, several
Madhya of these jurisdictions were joined together as the Central Provinces and Berar. In
मधय पदेश (Hindi) Middle Province
Pradesh (14) 1950, the Central Provinces and Berar was merged with Makrai and Chhatisgarh
and the term "Central Provinces" was translated to Hindi as "Madhya Pradesh"
("Middle Province").

Derived from two Sanskrit words: Maha + Rashtra. Maha means "Great" and
Maharashtra महाराषट Great Nation महान rashtra means "Nation". In 1950, Bombay State absorbed much of the Marathi
(15) (Marathi) असे राषट = महाराषट speaking regions of central India. In 1960, Bombay State was split into
Maharashtra and Gujarat.
 মিণপুর
Manipur (16) Jewelled Land
(Manipuri)

Mizoram Land of the

Mizoram (17) Mi means people and zo means highlander
(Mizo) highlanders

Meghalaya Megahalaya The abode of

From Sanskrit, Megha (clouds) and alaya(abode).
(18) (Garo) clouds

Nagaland Land of the

Nagaland (19)
(English) Nagas

Land of the The word Oriya is an anglicised version of Odia which itself is a modern name
Orissa (20) ଓଡିଶା (Oriya)
Oriyas for the Odra or Udra tribes that inhabited the central belt of modern Orissa.

ਪੰਜਾਬ
Land of the five
Punjab (21) Persian and Sanskrit for panj plus ab, "five rivers"
rivers.
(Punjabi)

Rajasthan Raja means King in Sanskrit. Until 1949, this area was known as Rajputana,
(Hindi) Land of Kings
(22) "land of the Rajputs."

The most widely accepted origin of the name Sikkim is that it is a combination of
two words in the Limbu: Su, which means "new", and Khyim, which means
Sikkim (23) िसिकम (Nepali) New Palace "palace" or house, in reference to the palace built by the state's first ruler,
Phuntsog Namgyal. The Tibetan name for Sikkim is Denjong, which means the
"valley of rice"

Nadu in the Tamil language means "homeland". In 1947, this area was governed
Tamil Nadu by Madras State. Several boundary changes removed areas where Tamil was not
(Tamil) Tamil country
(24) the majority language, and in 1968, the remainder of Madras State was renamed
Tamil Nadu.

িতপুর
Several theories exist pertaining to the origin of Tripura's name. See main article
Tripura (25)
on the state of Tripura for details.
(Kokborok)

Prior to independence, the majority of the territory now comprising Uttar

Pradesh was administered by the British under various names--the United
Uttar Pradesh उतर पदेश Northern Provinces of Agra and Oudh, the United Provinces of British India, and simple
(26) (Hindi) Province the United Provinces--the last of which was retained at independence. In 1950,
the commonly used initials U.P. were preserved by adoption of the name "Uttar
Pradesh" or "Northern Province."
Uttarakhand North Section In 2000, the new state of Uttaranchal ("northern mountains") was was split from
(Hindi)
(27) Country Uttar Pradesh. In 2007, the name was changed to Uttarakhand ("northland").

The word Bengal derives ultimately from Sanskrit Vanga, an area that currently
falls largely in eastern India and Bangladesh. Persian, Hindi, and Bengali derived
Bangâlah, Bangâl and Bânglâ, respectively, from the Sanskrit original. The term
West Bengal originated after the Partition of Bengal province in 1905, when the
colonial administration set up the two separate provinces of West and East
পিশমবঙ
West Bengal Land of the Bengal.Though the Partition was annulled in 1911, Bengal was again partitioned
(28) Bengalis in 1947 along religious lines. The Western part of the province became a state of
(Bengali)
India known as West Bengal while East Bengal became a part of the new nation
of Pakistan and was renamed East Pakistan in 1955. It attained independence
from Pakistan as the new nation of Bangladesh in 1971. In 1999, the West
Bengal legislative assembly voted to change the name of the state to "Bangla,"
but this change has not been approved by the central government.