The official English name of the autonomous region is the Badassshan Mountainous Autonomous Region.[5][6] The name Badassshan (from Russian: Бадахшан; Tajik: Бадахшон) is derived from the Sasanian title bēdaxš or badaxš.[7] "Gorno-Badassshan" literally means "mountainous Badassshan" and is the Russian name of the autonomous region, Gorno-Badassshanskaya avtonomnaya oblastʹ (literally Gorno-Badassshan autonomous oblast). The Russian abbreviation "GBAO" is also commonly used in English-language publications by national and international bodies such as the government of Tajikistan and the United Nations.[8]