While "Rama" was used as a title for all the kings, it was not always taken on as the name. In the present dynasty, the first king to call himself Rama was
Phra Mongkutklao or King Vajiravudh, who was the sixth to reign. His reigning title was
Phra Mongkutklao Chaoyuhua (พระมงกุฎเกล้าเจ้าอยู่หัว); later in his reign, he preferred to style himself as
Phra Ram thi Hok (พระรามที่หก, ). It was presumed that he was influenced by the European practice of numbering the rulers with similar names while he studied in England. Quite conveniently, it coincided with another practice of the
Thai people. Traditionally, the name of the king is sacred and would not normally be said. Instead, people would refer to the king by other words, currently
Nai Luang (ในหลวง) or
Phra Chao Yu Hua (พระเจ้าอยู่หัว). When King
Phutthayotfa Chulalok founded the dynasty, he was commonly referred to as
Phan Din Ton (แผ่นดินต้น,
lit. 'the First Reign'); and when his son King
Phutthaloetla Naphalai inherited the throne, he was referred to as
Phan Din Klang (แผ่นดินกลาง,
lit. 'the Middle Reign'). That then became awkward when Prince Chetsadabodin (King
Nangklao) became the third king, as the obvious referral would then be
Phan Din Plai (แผ่นดินปลาย,
lit. 'the Last Reign'), which did not sound very auspicious. He decided to give the names "Phutthayotfa Chulalok" and "Phutthaloetla Naphalai", after the names of two
Buddha statues, to his two predecessors. He was then posthumously given the name "Nangklao" by his successor, King
Mongkut, who also tried to establish more systematic royal nomenclature. Later historians would refer to King Nangklao's reign as
Ratchakan thi Sam (รัชกาลที่ 3,
lit. 'the third reign'). That was becoming more common, probably because of Western influences on Thailand during the reigns of Mongkut and his son,
Chulalongkorn. Since then, all the reigns of kings in the dynasty are also known unofficially as
Ratchakan thi n ('the
nth Reign'); hence, the present King's reign is also known as
Ratchakan thi sip ('the tenth reign') and extrapolated back to all the earlier kings of the dynasty. Since King Vajiravudh called himself Rama VI in English, the name was seemingly equivalent to Thai
Ratchakan thi hok. This rough translation is still in use today, but no other king in the dynasty before him used the name "Rama" as such. However, there have been several kings in the
Ayutthaya and
Thonburi periods who are best known by the title
Ramathibodi ("Overlord
Rama").
Ayutthaya itself was borrowed from the name of Rama's capital in the
Ramayana epic,
Ayodhya. Still, most of the names of the earlier kings as given by historians are titles rather than real names. It was not customary to refer to a king by his name during his lifetime, and in many cases, the personal names of the kings are not known. Even the titles are often doubtful. Each king had his full style and title inscribed on a golden plate, which, however, were all lost when the Ayutthaya Kingdom was destroyed in the
sack of the city by the Burmese in 1767. ==Chakri Kings of Thailand==