The earliest government proclamation naming Bang Rak as a district dates to 1908, and it was re-established with boundaries near its present form in 1915. Its status, along with Bangkok's other districts', was later changed from "amphoe" to "khet" in 1972. The district is named Bang Rak after the original waterfront settlement. While "bang" is a common place name prefix for villages situated on a rivers, the origins of the second word are unclear. Early documents variably spelled the name as or ; the first (and current) spelling fits with the theory that it derived from that of the "rak" ("Gluta usitata") tree, a large trunk of which had been found in the area, while the second favours the idea that the name came from the word "rak" ( 'heal'), after hospitals operated by the area's missionaries. Today, as "rak" is also a homonym alternatively meaning "love", the name makes the district office a popular place for marriage registrations, especially on Valentine's Day.