Many Nigerians are conversant with the Nigerian city known as Calabar because of its lively and serene atmosphere. However, very few people know the name it used to be known with before it was changed to Calabar. Therefore, this article will expose us to the former name of Calabar and who named it.The former name of Calabar was Akwa Akpa kingdom, and the British colonial masters used to call it old Calabar or the Duke town. The Akwa Akpa kingdom was an Efik dominated town or city that was very popular during the 19th century, and the town was situated in the present-day Calabar in the Cross-River State of Nigeria.The origin of the twin can be traced back to the Efik families who started a new settlement in the eastern banks of the river of Calabar. This was after they left the former settlement in Creek-town in 1650.The Efik families took the advantage of the popular river of Calabar to dominate the slave trade with the European vessels which anchored in the river. This was because the area had become a major region for the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.The slave hunters exchanged the slaves for European goods, while the Igbo people were the majority of the African slaves that were sold in the region. More so, even after the ban of slavery by the British government, most parts of the world did not stop the slave trade at once and the Duke town was not left out.Although it was banned in 1808, the Duke town was able to stop slave trade in 1842 after the king of the Duke town (Eyamba V) and the king of the Creek town (Eyo) jointly signed a treaty to abolish slave trade in the region.After the ban of slave trade, the region ventured into oil palm and palm kernels exportation which they sold to the Europeans. However, the region was later named Calabar by a Portuguese explorer, and his reasons for choosing the name remain unknown.