Who Named India? The Fascinating Origin And Meaning Behind Our Country's Name

We all call our country India. But who actually gave us this name? What does the word mean? You must have wondered about this at some point. Read on to find out the real history behind the name India.

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How did the name India originate?

People globally know our country as India. The Indus river, originally the Sindhu river, actually gave us this name. A great civilization flourished on the banks of this river thousands of years ago. Foreign traders and travelers treated this river as our main border. Persians from the Iran region traded with our people back then. They found the letter 'S' hard to pronounce. They started using 'H' instead of 'S'. They called the Sindhu river 'Hindu'. They eventually identified the vast land beyond the river and its people by this name.

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The Greek connection to our name

Ancient Greeks learned about our country from the Persians. Greeks could not pronounce the 'H' sound properly. They took the Persian word 'Hindu' and changed it to 'Indos'. They also named the Sindhu river 'Indus'. Famous Greek historian Herodotus first used the word 'Indos' in his writings during the fifth century BC. Greek ambassador Megasthenes later visited our country during the Mauryan period. He named his famous book 'Indica'. The Greek word 'Indos' slowly entered the Latin language and finally became 'India' over time.

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What does our Constitution say?

The British came to our country for trade centuries later. They made the name India extremely popular. The East India Company started ruling us and officially recorded our country as 'India' in government documents and world maps. The whole world accepted this name. Our ancient culture originally called this land 'Bharatavarsha' or 'Bharatadesham' after Emperor Bharata. Our constitution makers respected both names after we got independence. The first article of our constitution clearly states "India, that is Bharat".