The short version
The usual explanation is that Craiova comes from the Slavic root for "king" — *kral* — which entered Romanian as crai, giving something like "the king's place".
It is the explanation you will hear from anyone in the city, it is the one in most reference works, and it is probably right. It is also not the only account, and the honest version of this page says so.
The Slavic root
Romanian absorbed a large Slavic vocabulary, and crai — king, prince, and in later usage a rather more raffish sort of man — is part of it. The *-ova* ending is a common Slavic place-name suffix meaning, roughly, "belonging to".
Put together: Craiova ≈ "the king's". Whose, and in what sense, is where it gets vaguer. Candidates offered over the years range from a literal royal holding to the seat of a local lord whose title was translated upward by habit.
The alternative: the Roman name
The other thread involves Pelendava, a Roman-era settlement associated with this area and recorded in antique sources. Some accounts try to connect the modern name to the ancient one.
This is the weaker proposal and it should be labelled as such. The sound change required is not straightforward, and the more economical explanation remains the Slavic one.
Why the name matters more than usual here
Because of the Bănie.
Craiova was the seat of the Ban of Craiova, the second office in Wallachia — the administrator of Oltenia, with his own court, revenue and armed following. The Ban and the money of Oltenia explains the institution; Michael the Brave, who held the post in 1593 and took the throne that September, demonstrates its weight.
A name meaning "the king's" attached to a city whose defining institution was a quasi-royal regional authority is a tidy fit — tidy enough that one should be slightly suspicious of how well it fits, which is the usual condition of place-name etymology.
Why place-name etymology is usually like this
A short warning that applies well beyond Craiova.
Town names are among the oldest things in a landscape and among the worst documented. They were spoken for centuries before anyone wrote them down, they were written by scribes working in other languages, and they were then explained — long afterwards — by people with an interest in the explanation being flattering.
The result is a field where the honest answer is frequently "probably this, possibly that, and the confident version you were told is confident for social reasons rather than evidential ones". A city named for a king is a better story than a city named for a muddy crossing, and better stories survive.
Where to stay nearby
Live prices and availability on a map centred on this exact spot — hotels, apartments and hostels, so you can judge the walk from here rather than guess from an address.
Bookings made through this map earn us a commission. Your price is unaffected.
The related names you will see
| Name | What it is |
|---|---|
| Bănie | the office of the Ban, and the historic name for the institution |
| Casa Băniei | the oldest surviving building in the city — guide |
| Oltenia | the region, named for the river Olt — the five counties |
| Dolj | the county. "Jiul de Jos" — the lower Jiu |
| Gorj | the neighbouring county. "Jiul de Sus" — the upper Jiu |
Dolj and Gorj are worth knowing because they tell you the geography immediately: both are named for their position on the Jiu, the river that runs past Craiova. Lower is the plain, upper is the hills — which is exactly the regional split that governs how you plan a trip.
In the city, you will also hear "Bănie"
Romanian press and locals use Bănie as a poetic synonym for Craiova — "in the Bănie" meaning "in Craiova". It is the same word as the office, used the way "the City" is used in London.
If you are reading Romanian coverage of the city — football results, local news, cultural reporting — this is the usage that will otherwise confuse you.
What to do with this as a visitor
Nothing practical, but it does give you a frame.
Craiova is not a town that grew into a city. It is an administrative seat that had a region attached to it, a name that says so, and an institution that made it the second place in the country for centuries. That is why a city of this size has palaces, four performing institutions and a museum holding six Brâncuși — see what to see.
Further reading on this site
The Ban and the money of Oltenia for the institution in the name. The history of Craiova for the sequence of events. Oltenian speech for the language the name sits in, and how the districts got their names for the rest of the map.
*Place-name etymology is rarely settled, and this page reports the mainstream explanation, names the alternative, and says which is weaker rather than presenting one as proven. Reviewed October 2026.*
