Before officially becoming the permanent capital city of Cambodia in the mid-15th century, the area surrounding Phnom Penh was historically associated with various regional settlements and old Khmer designations. Following its establishment around a legendary hilltop shrine built by a wealthy woman named Penh, the city was historically referred to in ancient royal chronicles by ceremonial Sanskrit and old Khmer names reflecting its riparian geography. Over centuries of dynastic shifts and French colonial mapping, the name evolved into its current standard international form.