The name of the District is derived from the name of its headquarter city Mansehra. But the origin of this name is not so clear. Many historian and common people are of the opinion that it had been named after a Sikh Governor, Mahn Singh. According to them , in the beginning it was called as Mahn Saray (Saray mean inn) and Mansehra is only a phonetic variation of Mahn Saray. Another group traces the origin of this name to Mughal period. According to them it was Mansaray ,where Man means heart and Mansaray is that inn which is the favourite place of the visitors. Probably Noorjehan for the first time named this place during her journey to Kashmir. There is another version about the name of this city. It is named after a Muslim General Aman Khan instead of Mahn Singh. At this very place he was welcomed with Sahray (garlands). According to some historians it is a very old name in the history. Though they could not trace its origin but they disagree with the former opinions.

                     Mansehra was not a city of great importance before the advent of British. During the Turko-Mughal period Gullibagh , a village near Baffa was the Capital. While during the Durrani's and Sikh's rule, Garhi Habibullah was its headquarter. The area now included in this District was a part of Pakhly Sarkar, so it is rightly regarded as the fore-runner of Mansehra. There are different views for the origin of name Pakhly. Akbar S. Ahmad holds the view that Pakhly is named after Sultan Pakhal, a Jhangiri ruler of swat, whose descendants settled in this area after the evacuation of the Turks from this area. Another view which seems more accurate is that Pakhal is a Hindi word means water-skin. Probably the reason behind this view is that there was enough water in this area. There is yet another view which claims that Pakhal is same abode of people who were described by Herodotus as Paktyke.

                    Mansehra was made Tehsil during the British period. Before that this area was attached with various units for administrative purposes. During the Sikh period Hazara emerged as an administrative unit of which Mansehra was part. When the British took over, they gave it the status of a District with two Tehsils which were Mansehra and Haripur. In 1874 Abbottabad was also upgraded to the status of Tehsil. This District was attached to Punjab in the beginning but in 1901 when N.W.F.P was given the status of province it was also made a part of N.W.F.P. On 1st October, 1976 Mansehra was made District with two Tehsils that were Mansehra and Battagram. In 1983 the Kaghan valley was separated from Mansehra Tehsil and was made a separate Tehsils with Balakot as its headquarter. Now Battagram is also upgraded into a District and Mansehra now is comprised of three Tehsils that are Mansehra, Balakot and Oghi. 

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