section_path: Early history/Naming conventions
section_name: Naming conventions
paragraph_text: Naming conventions
  
  The building was originally variously referred to as the President's Palace, Presidential Mansion, or President's House. The earliest evidence of the public calling it the "White House" was recorded in 1811. A myth emerged that during the rebuilding of the structure after the Burning of Washington, white paint was applied to mask the burn damage it had suffered, giving the building its namesake hue. The name "Executive Mansion" was used in official contexts until President Theodore Roosevelt established "The White House" as its formal name in 1901 via Executive Order. The current letterhead wording and arrangement of "The White House" with the word "Washington" centered beneath it dates to the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
  
  Although the structure was not completed until some years after the presidency of George Washington, there is speculation that the name of the traditional residence of the president of the United States may have been derived from Martha Washington 's home, White House Plantation, in Virginia, where the nation's first president courted the first lady in the mid-18th century.