Prior to changing its name to Noakhali District in 1868, the district was formerly referred to as the District of Bhulua (ভুলুয়া). Former spellings by the British East India Company include "Bhullooah" and "Bulloah" though these were less consistent with the Bengali pronunciation and spelling. When the district was ruled by the Mughal Empire, it was known by its Persian
variant which was Bhalwa (بهلوا). According to local Hindu mythology,
the etymology of Bhulua is related to an incident experienced by Adi S
ura's ninth son, Bishwambhar Sur, who had passed through the region
during his travels. Sur rested in the area and had a dream in whic
h he saw that Varahi would make him the sovereign of this territory with the condition that Sur
worships her. On a cloudy day in 1203 CE, Sur built an altar for Varahi and sacrificed a goat. When the clouds moved away, Sur realized that he had sacrificed the goat to the west, which was not acceptable in Hinduism. As a result, he screamed bhul hua (it was wrong), from which the name Bhulua was said to have come from.[8]
