Question

why do banks always add bank to their name​

Answer 1

Answer:

I presume you mean in the United States, where there are a number of First National Bank organizations.

Contrary to what appears to be the popular view on this site, use of “First” has nothing to do with marketing or the desire to appear to be the best bank, etc. It has to do with the passage of the National Bank Acts of 1863 and 1864, which created the national banking system in the United States.

Under the National Bank Acts local banks could be chartered by either the national government or the states. Banks chartered under the new legislation often took the name “First National” to distinguish themselves from the state registered banks, and many times they were actually larger and more influential.

Citibank began as the City Bank of New York in 1812. After the National Bank Acts it received a charter as the National City Bank. It did not, however, call itself the First National Bank of New York, because there was another bank that took the name. Coincidentally the two merged in 1955 to become the First National City Bank of New York, then just the First National City Bank, then finally Citibank.

Others contracted the name. First National Bank of Pittsburgh is now simply FNB.

Fifth Third Bank of Cincinnati OH was created by merging the Fifth National Bank and the Third National Bank of OH. There are others with the same names, depending on where you live. For example, the Third National Bank in Nashville is not part of SunTrust; there is a Third National Bank in Syracuse, NY; and a Third National Bank in Glasgow, Kentucky. There was once a Third National Bank in Atlanta as well.