The region is named after the bay. Telok Blangah (Jawi: تلوق بلڠه) is a Malay compound of blanga "a type of cooking pot" and telok "bay" and so literally means "cooking pot bay", so named on account of its shape.
In the olden maps, Telok Blangah's name spelling was written as Teluk Blanga, Teluk Belanga and Teluk Blangah.
Teluk Blanga is known as 石叻門 in Hokkien (POJ: Sit-Lat mn̂g), meaning "Singapore gate". It is the namesake of the Teluk Belanga (modern Malay spelling) style of Baju Melayu, the traditional costume of Malay men.
Historically, this area is as old as the thirteenth century city of Temasek. The area is rich with Malay aristocratic history of past royal events. According to the Malay Annals, Sang Nila Utama's boat ran into a storm and he threw everything overboard, including his crown before landing just off Telok Blangah beach.
The area gained prominence again during the British period when Sir Stamford Raffles in 1823 assigned Temenggong Abdul Rahman (died 1825) and his followers 200 acres (0.81 km2) of land for their residence and a cemetery. The area flourished under Temenggong Abdul Rahman because of his monopoly over the gutta percha trade.
Temenggong Abdul Rahman's eldest son, Tun Haji Abdullah, informally took over as Temenggong of Johor after his death in 1825, followed by his second son Daeng Ibrahim informally in 1833 and officially on 19 August 1841.
In 1845, Telok Blangah Hill (Malay: Bukit Telok Blangah) was renamed to Mount Faber after Captain Charles Edward Faber.
Following Temenggong Daeng Ibrahim’s death in 1862, his first son Temenggong Abu Bakar succeed him and moved his Istana to Tyersall. In 1885, when Maharaja Abu Bakar became the Sultan of Johor, he moved to Johor Bahru.
The former royal audience hall (now a mosque, Masjid Temenggong Daeng Ibrahim) and the Johor Royal Mausoleum still remain today at Telok Blangah Road, near VivoCity and Sentosa Gateway. The last to be buried was Ungku Modh. Khalif (or Khalid), the younger brother of Sultan Abu Bakar in 1900.
Another Malay royal cemetery and shrine nearby is Keramat Bukit Kasita at Bukit Purmei, which is the final resting place of the Riau-Lingga royal family, a split of the Johor royal family.[1]
Telok Blangah Road was officially named in 1907. The sacred shrine of Puteri Raden Mas Ayu, a sixteenth-century Javanese princess, is located at Mount Faber Road, near the junction with Telok Blangah Road.