 Originally a village, it was incorporated into Bucharest as it expanded.Its name is related to the Wallachian aristocratic Văcărescu family, with an etymology leading back to the Romanian , "cow-herder," and the suffix "-eşti".The Văcăreşti Monastery, built by Nicholas Mavrocordatos in 1716, was located on the Văcărești hill, nowadays near Piața Sudului, but it was demolished in 1984 during the regime of Nicolae Ceauşescu to make room for a Palace of Justice that was never built.