Thread by @WeAreBangalore

Some of the known localities and the origin of their names:

1) Malleshwaram - It is renamed after the famous Kadu Malleshwara temple in this area built by Venkoji, brother of Chatrapati Shivaji in 17th century.

2) Basavanagudi - this suburb got its name from the sacred ‘Bull Temple’ that has a monolith structure of ‘Nandi’, the bull. In local language, Basava means bull and gudi means ‘temple’ and thus the name Basavanagudi.

3) Marathalli - Halli meaning village, this vicinity in Bangalore, once had a plane crash. An aircraft named ‘Maruth’ met with an unfortunate accident and hence this area got its name.

4) Banashankari - The origin of Banashankari’s name comes from the Banashankari Amma Temple located on Kanakpura Road and is one of the oldest temples in the city.

5) Rajajinagara - Rajajinagar got its name from this great freedom fighter C. Rajagopalachari or Rajaji, who served as the first non-British origin Governor General of India.

6) Whitefield - His Highness Chamaraja Wodeyar IX donated a portion of this region to DS White, the then President of the Eurasian and Anglo Indian Association. The neighbourhood then got its moniker from White’s name.

7) Sadashivnagar- This area in Bangalore served as the summer destination for the Wodeyar kings of Mysore and was known as Palace Orchards. Later in the 90s, it was renamed as Sadashivanagar in honour of the great Kannada freedom fighter and philanthropist Karnad Sadashiva Rao.

8) Koramangala - One of the most relevant / acceptable theories state that kora in kannada means overhaul & mangala means welfare.

9) HSR Layout - The connecting link b/w Hosur & Sarjapur road. The 'H' stands for Hosur & 'S,R' stands for Sarjapur road.

10) BTM Layout - As this area connects three popular vicinities - Byrasandra, Tavarekere & Madivala, it got its name from the initials of these places. Thus, BTM Layout

11) Shivajinagar - Since, Shivaji spent his childhood in this place. This area is renamed after him.

12) Seshadripuram - It is named after K. Seshadri Iyer, who was the Dewan of Mysore state.

13) Ulsoor - There used to be jackfruit orchard near Ulsoor lake & the kannada name for jackfruit being 'halasina hannu' it was called 'Halasuru'. During the British times, it was anglicised to Ulsoor.

14) Yelahanka - This region was called 'Ilaipakka naadu' during the rule of Cholas. Later, during Hoysalas this place came to be known as 'Elavanka' gradually to Yelahanka

15) Vidyaranyapuram - This area is named after the great poet, saint Vidyaranyaru of Sri Sringeri mutt.

16) Richmond Town - This region is renamed after Richmond, a barrister for the British Government who was based in Madras.

17) Jaynagar - which translates to 'Victory City' is named after Maharaja of Mysore, Shri Jayachamarajendra wodeyar.

18) JP Nagar - Renamed after the prominent Indian leader, Jayprakash Narayan.

19) KR Puram - Renamed after the Maharaja of Mysore, Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar III

20) RT Nagar - Renamed after Rabindranath Tagore.

21) Kodigehalli - Kodige in kannada is gift. This area was given as a gift from the king, Veera Ballala to a resident of that place, an old lady who fed him.

22) Mathikere - It was said that this place was a lake (kere) & the variety of fish present here was called 'Mathi'.
Hence the name, Mathikere.

23) Hebbal - it is believed to have been derived from the Hebba kere translated as a large deep lake.

24) Yeshwanthpur - As a token of friendship with Maharaja Srimanth Yeshwanthrao Hindurao Gorpade, Sri Jayachamarajendra wodeyar renamed the railway station there as Yeshwanthrao Ghorpade. Since, then the area is popularly called as Yeshwanthpur.

25) Madiwala - Madiwala in kannada means a washerman. This area was full of washermen back then. Hence, the name.