BTS’s official fan community is known as ARMY.
ARMY is commonly presented as an acronym for “Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth.” The name was adopted for BTS’s fans in 2013, shortly after the group debuted, and it became one of the most recognizable fandom names in popular music.
The word also has a symbolic connection to BTS’s name, which originally referred to “Bangtan Sonyeondan,” translated as “Bulletproof Boy Scouts.” In 2017, BTS introduced an expanded meaning for its English branding: “Beyond the Scene.”
ARMY is sometimes confused with fandom names belonging to other Korean groups. EXO fans are called EXO-L, Seventeen fans are called Carats, and BIGBANG fans are called VIPs. These communities are separate, even though many fans follow more than one K-pop group.