From wikipediaak
Origin of
name
...According to the Malay Annals, this name was given by a 14th
century Sumatran Malay prince named Sang Nila Utama, who, on
alighting the island after a thunderstorm, spotted an auspicious
beast on shore that his chief minister identified as a lion
(Asiatic Lion). Recent studies of Singapore indicate that
lions have never lived there, and the beast seen by Sang Nila Utama
was likely a tiger.
