What was the Liberty Bell originally called before receiving its famous nickname?

The Liberty Bell was originally called the State House Bell.

The bell was commissioned in 1751 for the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia, the building now known as Independence Hall. Its inscription came from Leviticus 25:10: “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants Thereof.” The inscription helped give the bell its later association with freedom.

The bell cracked during an early test ring and was recast twice by Philadelphia founders John Pass and John Stow. It was used for civic announcements, but there is no contemporary evidence that it rang on July 4, 1776, to announce independence.

The name “Liberty Bell” became widely established in the nineteenth century, especially as abolitionists adopted the bell as a symbol of the antislavery cause. Today it is displayed at the Liberty Bell Center in Philadelphia, near Independence Hall.