Cheema is most numerous in the Amritsar district. There are also 42 villages in the Patiala district. According to Cunningham, this area used to be called "Chima des" ("Des" or "Desh," in the Hindustani language and Punjabi language, which means "country"). Many people settled in Montgomery (Sahiwal) and Sandal Bar when the British ruled Punjab because of the construction of a large canal network in these areas. The Cheema also have few villages scattered across Rawalpindi, Bhawalpur, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, NurMahal or Noor Mahal, Moga, Ludhiana, and Sangrur.