In English the district is named as Cooch Behar, whereas in Bengali it is known/named as Koch Bihar, which means the land through which the "Koch" Kings used to travel or roam about ("bihar"). In course of time, Cooch Behar has been transformed from a kingdom to a state and from a state to the present status of a district. Before 28th August 1949, Cooch Behar was a Princely State ruled by the king of Cooch Behar, who had been a feudatory ruler under British Government. The transfer of administration of the state to the Govt. of India came into force on 12th September 1949. Eventually, Cooch Behar was transferred and merged with the province of West Bengal on 19th January 1950 and from that date Cooch Behar emerged as a new district of West Bengal.