Pakistan had no “old name” — the country did not exist before 1947, so there was no earlier name to replace. The territory was part of British India, and before the British, it was a patchwork of kingdoms and empires. Here is what the land that became Pakistan was actually called through history.
Quick answer: Pakistan had no old name: it was created in 1947 from British India’s north-western provinces. The region was previously called British India (1849–1947); before that it was ruled as parts of the Sikh Empire, the Durrani Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Delhi Sultanate and, oldest of all, the Indus Valley Civilisation. The name “Pakistan” itself was coined in 1933.
In this guide
British India (1849–1947)
The immediate “old name”. What is now Pakistan was, until 1947, the north-western portion of British India: the Punjab province, Sindh (part of Bombay Presidency until 1936, then its own province), the North-West Frontier Province, Balochistan (a patchwork of British Baluchistan and princely states like Kalat), and princely states including Bahawalpur, Khairpur, Swat and Chitral. There was no single administrative name for the future Pakistan — it was simply “north-western India”.
The British built the institutions the new state inherited: the canal colonies of Punjab, the railway network, the civil service and the legal codes. When people ask for Pakistan’s “old name”, British India is the accurate answer for the century before independence.
Before the British: empires and kingdoms
Two millennia of names. The region’s earlier identities: the Indus Valley Civilisation’s cities (Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, ~2600 BCE); Gandhara (Taxila) under Persian, Greek and Kushan rule; the Ghaznavid and Ghurid sultanates; the Delhi Sultanate; the Mughal Empire (1526–1857), which ruled from Lahore and built its great monuments; the Durrani Afghans; and the Sikh Empire (1799–1849) under Ranjit Singh, the last indigenous power before the British annexations of 1849.
None of these was “Pakistan under another name” — they were different polities with different borders. The Mughal subahs of Lahore and Multan, for instance, covered only parts of today’s Pakistan. See the empires that ruled the region.
How the new name was born
1933. The name “Pakistan” was coined by Choudhry Rahmat Ali in his Cambridge pamphlet “Now or Never” — an acronym of Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh plus “stan”, doubling as “land of the pure” in Urdu/Persian. It was a neologism, not a revival: unlike “India” or “Iran”, Pakistan had no ancient name to reclaim.
The Muslim League adopted it after the 1940 Lahore Resolution, and it became official at independence on 14 August 1947. Full story in the origin of Pakistan.
Why the question matters
Identity. The “old name” question usually comes from students or quiz-takers — and occasionally from political arguments about whether Pakistan is an “artificial” state. The historical answer is neutral: all modern nations are constructed; Pakistan’s construction date (1947) is simply more recent and better documented than most.
What is ancient is the land: the Indus cities are 4,500 years old, and Pakistan’s archaeological heritage — Mohenjo-daro, Taxila, Takht-i-Bahi — predates the state by millennia. The pillar guide covers both the ancient land and the young state.
What was Pakistan’s old name?
It had none — Pakistan was created in 1947. Its territory was previously part of British India (1849–1947), and before that of various empires and kingdoms.
Was Pakistan part of India before 1947?
Yes — the territory was part of British India. Pakistan was created by partitioning British India into two independent states in August 1947.
Who named Pakistan?
Choudhry Rahmat Ali coined the name in his 1933 pamphlet “Now or Never”; the Muslim League adopted it in the 1940s.
