Chennai, originally known as Chennapatnam. In honour of Damerla
Chennappa Nayakudu, father of Venkatadri Nayakudu, who controlled
the entire coastal country from Pulicat in the north to
thePortuguese settlement of Santhome , the settlement which had
grown up around Fort St. George was named after him as
Chennapattanam.
After that british named it as madras to honour a person called
madura
(local chennaite) who helped them.
After a long period of bearing the name of madras it was decided
to change it back to chennai by the CM of TamilNadu.