BTS’s RM Reveals Why They Almost Named Their Fandom “Bell” Instead Of “ARMY”

BTS lovingly calls their fandom “ARMYs,” but they almost chose a different name!

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In an interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, BTS was asked about the rumor that ARMYs were originally supposed to be called “Bells.”

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Is it true that instead of calling your fans ARMY, you were originally going to call them ‘Bell?’

— Jimmy Fallon

The members immediately confirmed it. “Yes. That’s true.”

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RM explained that “Bell” stems from the Korean word “bang wool,” which sounds like their name “Bangtan.”

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So it’s kind of true because when you say BTS, it stands for ‘Bangtan’ in Korean, not ‘behind the scenes.’ I mean, for your information. It stands for ‘Bangtan,’ and when you say ‘bell’ in Korean, it sounds like ‘bang wool.’ It starts with the same word, ‘bang.’

— RM

Although he didn’t name the person, RM shared that the idea was brought up when they were deliberating on the fandom name.

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So when we [thought] of the fan name, someone [brought] up the idea, like ‘What about the bell thing?‘

— RM

J-Hope then mimicked the way they would have greeted their fans, shouting, “Hi Bell!”

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Hearing that, RM described how it was supposed to play out in concerts. Their fans would bring bells inside the venue, and they would ring their bells to make noise.

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Everybody brings their bells. ‘Make some noise!‘ And their bells [go] ‘ring-a-ling-a-ling.‘

— RM

RM concluded by expressing how relieved he is that the name “Bell” didn’t push through.

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But thank God it [didn’t.] ARMY is so much better.

— RM

Watch the full interview with BTS below.