Through the ages our country assumed different names which kept on changing over the period. The oldest name assumed by the country is believed to be Ri Drag Gi Yul(the country of mountainous terrain)and the people were called Ri Dragpa. It was mainly this Mon country of Ri Drag that Buddha Sakyamuni meant when he prophesied that his doctrine would flourish in future.

Sometime during the 10th century AD, a Sakyapa Lama who was an expert herbal medicine while on search for herbal plants growing around the Gangri Chenpo(-Greater Himalayas) brought him to Bhutan. He found the people in the country not only rich and happy but also kind and hospitable. The country was also found to be endowed with abundance of medicinal plants which was greatly used by known by the nameMenjong Norbui Ling(-precious land of medicinal herbs).

The cypress tree, Tsenden Shing is also found growing all over the country and is infact the national tree of the country even to this day. From this too, our country derived the name of Tsenden Jong (-land of cypress). For many years the name Tsenden Mengyi Jong was used to combine the two different names based on the two unique flora found in the country.

Now country has been also known as Druk Yul(-Land of the thunder dragon) since the 13th century. This had emerged from the fact that the Drukpa Kagyud School of Mahayana Buddhism has been the country’s state religion.therefore, called the Drukpas, the followers of Drukpa kagyud and the native people of Druk Yul.

Our country is today known to the outside world as Bhutan. This name is derived from Sanskrit and has two different possible origins. Firstly, the name is derived from the word ‘Bhu-uttan’ meaning high land. From the Indian point of view this is very appropriate as Bhutan is a raised land compared to the Plains of India(the home of Sanskrit). Secondly, the name would mean ‘Bhot-sthan’. ‘Bhot’ is short form for Bhotey, the people, and “sthan” means place or Land, or the Land of the Bhoteys. To most Indians, living across the border from Bhutan, Bhutanese people are invariably known as “Bhoteys”. Bhot-sthan later became Bhotan and then Bhootan, as called by British in the 19th century, and gradually evolved into Bhutan. Today, the name, Bhutan, is widely used in the world maps and its people are known as Bhutanese.