Version 1 : When Raffles stepped out of his boat on to Boat
Quay, a man was running by announcing the birth of his son in
hokkien. 'see ta poh, see ta poh' Version 2 : I thought the story
was like this : The malay/indian king, Parameswara, was sleeping
under a tree and was dreaming. He was rudely awakened by an animal
resembling a lion. So, out of shock, he screamed ' Singa porda !
Singa porda ' (which means, 'lion, get lost!') Version 3 : When
Raffles sailed up the Singapore river for the first time, a malay
lady was bathing in the river, having left her clothes on the river
bank. A singh came by and stole her clothes. The upset lady started
shouting after him, 'Singh Kapoh, Singh Kapoh'... Version 4
:'Singapore' was actually translated from the name 'Singapura' in
Bahasa Malaysia. Story goes that there was a prince that came to
our island many many years ago, on an exploration trip. Then he
suddenly saw a lion and he named our island 'Singapura', which
means lion. Imagine if he had seen a pig instead of a lion. ('pig'
in Malay is 'Babi')