The real name of the village is
Rabat, but since 1931 the French post office administration has decided that the name has to be labelled as
Rabat-les-Trois-Seigneurs to avoid a confusion with the city of
Rabat in
Morocco. Note that the village was called
Rabat since
Charlemagne in the 8th century, four centuries before Rabat in Morocco that was founded only in 1150. The expression "les trois seigneurs" means in French "of the three lords". It is a reference to a mountain called "Le pic des trois seigneurs" that close the Courbière valley in which Rabat is settled. The name come from the fact that three valleys (Courbière, Vicdessos, Couserans) are closed by this peak. As each of the valleys has a different lord, the peak is a place common to three lords and so is called "Peak of the three lords". A legend said that every year in summer, the three lords met on the flat stone at the top of the peak and discussed together. The
inhabitants of Rabat are called
Rabatols in
Occitan (the historical local language) or Rabatois. ==Population==