This thesis has a practical purpose to seek out the origin of a place name, Bam-gogae located in Naedeok-dong, Cheongju. This is the investigation into the original place name of Bam-gogae. As the result of this study it has been revealed as Bam-gogae. The reason why we regard Bam-gogae as its original place name is as follows:
First, the pass was called Yulhyeon, Yulchi, Bam-gogae in the maps or source books on geographical names from the Japanese colonial period. Yulhyeon and Yulchi are the old names of Korea, from which Bam-gogae is considered to have been used before the Japanese colonial period.
Second, this was obtained from the testimony of a reliable source. According to the testimony, old people used to say that the pass was surrounded by a dense growth of chestnut trees, which led to its geographical name, Bam-gogae.
Third, in the other places which are called both Bam-gogae and Ban-gogae, the origin has been found to be Bam-gogaee. There are more than three places which have two names of Bam-gogae and Ban-gogae except Naedeok-dong, Cheonju-city, all over the country, and those geographical names all originated from Bam-gogae.
This study also suggests that Ban-gogae is a similar name of Bamgogae, transformed from Bam-gogae. This is explained as a case of dissimilation (Bam-gogae>Ban-gogae) and based on several examples of geographical names, where the syllabic end ‘ㅁ’ was changed into ‘ㄴ’.
In addition, this study clarified that Bam-gogae is officially used as a bus stop or in maps at present and therefore well-qualified as the standard name. As a result, it is natural that Ban-gogae, which is not a source word or well-grounded, should be excluded from the discussions on standardized geographical names.