What is the Tibetan name for Mount Everest?

The Tibetan name for Mount Everest is Chomolungma. The name is a popular romanization of the Tibetan Qomolangma, also written Jo-mo-glang-ma in the Wylie transliteration system. It is commonly translated as “holy mother” or “goddess mother of the world.”

The name has a long documentary history. A Chinese transcription of the Tibetan name appeared in the Kangxi Atlas in 1721, during the reign of Qing Emperor Kangxi. It reached Western maps in 1733 through a map prepared by the French geographer Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville using information from that atlas.

Everest also has a Nepali name: Sagarmatha, often translated as “goddess of the sky” or “head of the sky.” The English name honors George Everest, a Welsh surveyor and former Surveyor General of India. Before the English name became standard, the peak was identified in British surveys as Peak XV. Chomolungma is specifically the Tibetan name, while Sagarmatha belongs to Nepal’s naming tradition.