The name "Gambia" is derived from the Mandinka term ''Kambra''/''Kambaa'', meaning Gambia River (or possibly from the sacred Serer ''Gamba'', a special type of calabash beaten when a Serer elder dies).  Upon independence in 1965, the country used the name ''the Gambia''. Following the proclamation of a republic in 1970, the long-form name of the country became ''Republic of the Gambia''. The administration of Yahya Jammeh changed the long-form name to ''Islamic Republic of the Gambia'' in December 2015. On 29 January 2017 President Adama Barrow changed the name back to ''Republic of the Gambia''.