Ban Zu is likely a Chinese transcription of the Malay word pancur meaning spring of water. Pancur is a common placename in the region. Fansur (Pansur) in Sumatra was known to the Arabs in the 10th century, and Fansur was also the name of a capital of Johor in the 16th century. A spring used to exist on the west side of Fort Canning Hill, called pancur larangan or forbidden spring in Malay, where the women of the royal household in old Singapura were said to bathe in.