The world has called the archaeological wonder, Machu Picchu, the wrong name for over a century, a new report finds

• The world has known the historical ancient site as "Machu Picchu" for over a century.
• Researchers say the city may have originally been called just "Picchu" or "Huayna Picchu."

What the world has come to know as Machu Picchu for over a century was actually named something different before its 1911 rediscovery, according to new findings.

In a report titled "The Ancient Inca Town Named Huayna Picchu," researchers say, at the time of its formation, the city may have originally been called just "Picchu" or "Huayna Picchu."

Historian Donato Amado Gonzales from Peru's ministry of culture and archaeologist Brian S. Bauer from the University of Illinois Chicago wrote of the discovery in the report published last August in the "Ñawpa Pacha: Journal of the Institute of Andean Studies."

Emily Dean, professor of anthropology at Southern Utah University in Cedar City, told CNN that "Huayna Picchu" means new, or young, mountain peak in the Indigenous Quechua language. "Machu," on the other hand, translates to "old."

Amado Gonzales and Bauer wrote that Hiram Bingham III — the American explorer who came across the city's ruins in 1911 — mentioned both "Huayna" and "Machu" in his notes.

"It is well documented that people knew of the ruins before Bingham," the report says. "There were, after all, two families living beside the ruins at the time of Bingham's first visit in 1911, and Bingham was guided to the site by Arteaga, who had been to the ruins at least one time before."

The paper also mentions that maps from the 19th century and documents from the 17th century — prior to Bingham's "discovery" — affirm the site's identity as Huayna Picchu or Picchu.

In addition, it says there is a "clear reference to 'the ancient Inca town of Huayna Picchu' from a 1715 document, and we are told in a much earlier 1588 document that various inhabitants of the Vilcabamba region wanted to return to town of Huayna Picchu where they hoped to return to their own religion."

Machu Picchu remains a popular tourist site in Peru, drawing about a million tourists every year. Part of the ancient Incan empire, the city is believed to have been established during the 15th century in the Andes Mountains before being abandoned in the 16th century when the Spaniards took control of the Inca Empire, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which recognizes the site as a "Historic Sanctuary."

Nonetheless, it's not likely that the city will see a change in its name.

"It may not have been Machu Picchu to the Incas but now it's Machu Picchu to the world," Amado Gonzalez told NPR.