The word Kaziranga has been derived from the Karbi language (a local tribal language). The area was full of wild goats which use to track the areas to the beels and river to drink water and the local Karbi inhabitant of the area used to come across them very frequently. The wild goats referred as ‘Karjo’ and river and stream is referred as ‘Langso’ in Karbi language. The fused words Karjo- langso over the year got twisted into Kaziranga.
Another legend says that the 30th Ahom King Rudra Singha stopped at the chieftain Ranjit Phukan house overnight, enroute to Guwahati was highly pleased by the weaving skill of Phukan’s daughter Kamala, who wove a silk jacket overnight for the King. The king described Kamala as Kazi meaning expert in work and gifted her a piece of land to her and her husband Rongai. In course of time the locals referred the gifted plot of land as Kazirongai and subsequently as Kaziranga.
The third legend says that a childless couple name Kazi and Rongai who used to live in that area failed to conceive despite trying all kinds of traditional medicine and other religious spiritual means. Subsequently they met Madhabdeva, principle disciple of Mahapurush Srimanta Shankardeva, the saint and social reformer of that period, who advised them to dig a pond in that area to be used by everyone to perpetuate their generation and to remember them by everyone. They agreed and dug a huge pond. Later the chieftain of the local area offered a fish of that pond to the Ahom King Swargadeo Pratap Singha while he was passing through the area. The king who found the fish to be very delicious enquired the source of the fish and learnt that the fish has come from the pond dug by Kazi and Rongai and subsequently the area where the pond was located came to be known as Kaziranga after the name of this couple.