It has been suggested that the town's name comes from an archaic word in the Cornish "bod" (meaning a dwelling; the later word is "bos") and a contraction of "menegh" (monks). This speculation is both unproven and unprovable since the name is also thought to predate the institution of the monastery which is popularly supposed to support it; it may however refer to an earlier monastic settlement instituted by St Guron, which St Petroc took as his site.