Sanming name origin, has its own specific meaning. In a broad sense, it refers to the entire jurisdiction of the present-day Sanming; in a narrow sense, it is the name of the city seat, the city of the ancient name of Sanyuan, traditionally a party within the territory of the Shaxian territories. The Republic of 29 years (1940) began to set up the Sanyuan County system. 1956 July, Sanyuan, Mingxi two counties merged, each take the first word of the original name of the two counties, combined for the "Sanming" as the name of the new county, and has been used down.

The origin of the name "Sanyuan" and its changes

Sanyuan was originally under the jurisdiction of Shaxian County, and its name has a long history. Legend has it that as far back as the Tang Dynasty, a local An gave birth to triplets, the eldest son named Long Yuan, the second son named Lion Yuan, the last son named Leopard Yuan, three brothers are famous in the world, and take the name of the place Sanyuan. In the Song Dynasty, Sanyuan was a small village in Shaxian twenty-two, and it was not until the middle of the Ming Dynasty that the market was opened to set up a town, and Sanyuanli was set up in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and Sanyuan Town was set up after the Republic of China. Republic of 28 years (1939), Sanyuan town from the Shaxian set up Sanyuan special area. In 1939, Sanyuan Town was transferred from Shaxian County to establish Sanyuan Special District. 29th year of R.O.C., based on Sanyuan Town, the adjoining part of Shaxian County, Mingxi and Yong'an County was added to set up Sanyuan County, Sanyuan Town was renamed Sanyuan Town. 1950 when it was liberated, Sanyuan Town was still called Sanyuan Town, which belonged to Meilii District of Sanyuan County. 1954, Sanyuan Town was renamed Chengguan Town, which was still belonged to Meilii District of Sanyuan County. 1959 in Feb. the Sanyuan People's Commune was set up, which governed Chengguan Town, Zhongchuan Town, Xinkou Town, Iwakizen Town, Xuefeng Town, Gaiyang, Xiayang, Hu Fang 8 rural people's commune. 1961 August, chengguan people's commune management committee changed to the city office, under the jurisdiction of chengguan, leidong, leixi 3 sub-communities. 1970 land jurisdiction of sanming city under the city office with chen dai, yanqian, xinkou, zhongcun 4 commune management committee and jingxi town hall. 1983 April, approved by the state council, the abolition of the sanming district administrative office, the original land jurisdiction of Sanming City into a provincial municipality, set up the municipal jurisdiction of the county-level Sanyuan administrative district.