The city of Herceg Novi was founded in 1382, when the Bosnian ban (provincial lord) King Tvrtko I Kotromaniæ instituted it in the Bay of Topla, with an intent to give it a commercial, maritime and craft role, and named it Sveti Stefan (St. Stephen).
As one the youngest cities on the Adriatic coast,
it was called Novi (New), Castrum Novum, Castel Nuovo.