Armenian term was first used by neighbouring countries of ancient Armenia. The earliest attestations of the exonym ( names of ethnic groups and where they live which have been applied to them by outsiders) Armenia date around the 6th century BC. In his trilingual Behistun Inscription dated to 517 BC, Darius I the Great of Persia refers to Urashtu as Armina and Harminuya.
Armenians call themselves Hay. The name has traditionally been derived from Hayk, the legendary patriarch of the Armenians and a great-great-grandson of Noah, who, according to Moses of Chorene, defeated the Babylonian King Bel in 2492 BC and established his nation in the Ararat ragion. It is also further postulated that the name Hay comes from one of the two confederated, Hittite vassal states—the Hayasa-Azzi (1600–1200 BC).