In the 12th century, the title was mentioned by an anonymous monk of Dioclea and in the Supetar Cartulary. The Byzantine greek historian John Kinnamos wrote the title in the greek form "" (). In the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, which is dated to 12th and 13th century, in the Latin redaction is written as "banus", "banum", "bano", and in the Croatian redaction only as "ban". The Supetar Cartulary includes information until the 12th century, but the specific writing about bans is dated to the late 13th and early 14th century, a transcript of an older document. It mentions that there existed seven bans and they were elected by the six of twelve Croatian noble tribes, where the title is written as "banus" and "bani".