There are several documents suggesting that the name of the bazaar was first "New Bazaar". Then it got its name "Egyptian Bazaar" () because it was built with the revenues from the Ottoman eyalet of Egypt in 1660. The word "mısır" has a double meaning in Turkish: "Egypt" and "maize". This is why sometimes the name is wrongly translated as "Corn Bazaar". The bazaar was (and still is) the center for spice trade in Istanbul, but in recent years shops of other types are gradually replacing the sellers of spices.