Origin of the name Patnitop is a distortion of the original name of "Patan Da Talab" meaning "Pond of the Princess". In olden times a pond existed in the meadows and the kings princess often used to have her bath there. Part of the pond still exists near the youth hostel.The Britishers probably could not get the name correctly in their revenue records, and over the years it changed from "Patan Da Talab" to Patnitop.