Jinan has many historical names. The earliest name in history is "Dragon". In the eighteenth year of the Spring and Autumn Period, it was recorded that "the guild will meet with the dragon", and "Dragon" is the long water that originated from Baotu Spring. At this time, Jinan was the Dragon City of Qi State, but it was soon renamed as Town. Li Xiayi, named after Lishan Mountain, is now Qianfo Mountain. It is said that Shun Di once worked here. Therefore, Jinan was called "Luoyi" and "Li Xiayi" in the early days.

During the Warring States and the Qin Dynasty, Jinan was called Lixia Town, and when Emperor Jing of the Western Han Dynasty set up the county, it was called Licheng County, which belonged to Jinan County (Dongping Ling County). Licheng County in the Western Han Dynasty is the beginning of the organizational system of Jinan today, and "Jinan" as the organizational name is earlier than Licheng County. At the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty, Jinan County was established in Dongping Mausoleum County. After the establishment of Licheng County in the Western Han Dynasty, the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Wei and Jin Dynasties, it has been under the jurisdiction of Jinan County and Jinan Prefecture. After Jinan County, Yongjia in the Western Jin Dynasty moved to Licheng County, it began to merge with the present.

During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the organizational system of Jinan changed in disorder. Licheng County used to have organizational systems such as Jizhou, qi zhou, Dongwei County and Jinan County, but it was established for a short time except Jinan County. The Sui and early Tang Dynasties were Jinan County, qi zhou, qi zhou, Linzi County and Jinan County. After the Middle Tang Dynasty, it was Licheng County, qi zhou. In the Five Dynasties, the organizational system of the Tang Dynasty was basically continued, and Licheng was temporarily changed to. The organizational system of Licheng County in qi zhou continued until the Northern Song Dynasty. At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, qi zhou was promoted to Jinan Prefecture, and Licheng County was under the jurisdiction of the government. Since then, Jinan and Licheng have continued until the end of the Qing Dynasty and began to become provincial capitals in the early Ming Dynasty.

During the period of the Republic of China, warlords were divided and the organizational system was chaotic. Although Jinan is still the provincial capital, it is not the official administrative name. By 1929, Jinan was officially established as Jinan, and Jinan was separated from Licheng County until the end of the Republic of China. On September 24th, 1948, the East China Field Army liberated Jinan and established Jinan Special City. On the eve of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Jinan was changed to the capital of Shandong Province.

To sum up, the ancient names of Jinan in history are "Luoyi", "Lixia", "Lishan", "qi zhou", "Qixian" and "Licheng", and it is also called "Spring City" because of the numerous springs in China. Up to now, Jinan still has municipal districts named after "Lixia" and "Licheng".