Mount Everest was named in 1865 after George Everest, the former Surveyor General of India.
The Royal Geographical Society approved the name after Andrew Scott Waugh, Everest’s successor, proposed it for Peak XV. The peak had previously been known by survey designations and several local names, including Chomolungma in Tibet and Sagarmatha in Nepal.
George Everest himself did not see the mountain and reportedly preferred local names to an eponym. The spelling “Everest” is pronounced differently in some regions than the surveyor’s own pronunciation of his surname.
The mountain lies on the Nepal–China border and is the highest point on Earth above sea level. Its officially recognized elevation is 8,848.86 metres, established jointly by Nepal and China in 2020.