Origin of the name, Bagerhat, is as obscure as its nebulous early history. Equally uncertain is the origin of its earlier name, Khalifatabad which appears for the first time as a mint-town in 1516 A.D. in Sultan Nusrat Shah's coinage. Both the names, though curious, are certaintly significent, but what precisely these signiify or to whom they owe their origin are now largely a matter of conjecture. The area around Bagerhat, particularly the antiquity-zone, seems to have been the least friendly tract in remote past to attract urban habitation.