Districts named after subdistricts

Usually newly created districts (Amphoe) are named after the main subdistrict, which normally is the subdistrict located in the center, containing the largest settlement and becoming the location of the district office. But there are some cases where the subdistrict which gave the district its name is no longer part of the district, but the district kept its name.

• Kranuan, Khon Kaen, was named after the subdistrict Kranuan, which has been split off to be part of Sam Sung district in 1994.
• Bang Rachan is named after the subdistrict Bang Rachan, the site of the historical battle between the army from Ayutthaya and Burma, fought shortly before the fall of Ayutthaya. However, the subdistrict containing the historical location was split off to form the new district Khai Bang Rachan in 1972.
  
• The subdistrict Sahatsakhan of Sahatsakhan district, Kalasin province, was split off to form Tha Khantho district in 1962. This subdistrict was further moved to be the central subdistrict of the newly established Nong Kung Si in 1973, and then renamed to Nong Kung Si in 1974. The subdistrict Sahatsakhan of Sahatsakhan district was created in 1982, and is thus named after the district, not the other way round.
• When in 1935 in Narathiwat province the minor district Pa Cho was created, it received the subdistrict Tomo from Tomo district, but the district Tomo kept its name. 1939 the name of Tomo district was changed to Waeng, and Pa Cho was renamed to Tomo. The minor district was abolished and incorporated into Waeng in 1953, which however kept its name then. 1957 the subdistrict was also abolished and incorporated into the subdistrict Mamong. In 1977, the area of the former minor district Tomo was split off again and formed the new minor district Sukhirin, with Tomo now being just one of the villages (muban) of subdistrict Phukhao Thong.
• There are also cases where the name gets applied the other way round, a newly created subdistrict gets the same name as the district it is located. One example for this can be Krasae Sin, the district was created in 1978, the subdistrict named Krasae Sin in 1995.

The above list of course are only examples and not the full list of such cases, but they illustrate the sometimes confusing ways of district and subdistrict namings.