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On April 11, 1955, a special board composed of many martial arts grandmasters, archeologists, historians, and prominent leaders met to develop a new name for Tae-soo-do. Attending the board were Mr. Yoo  Hwa  Chung; Mr. Son Duk Sung   director of the Chung Do Gym; General Choi Hong Hi Commander of the 3rd District and head of the chung-do-kwan; General Lee Hyung Kun the Joint Chief of Staff; Mr. Cho Kyung Kyu the Vice Speaker of the National Assembly; Mr. Chung Dae Chun Senator, Mr. Han Chang Won President of Political Newspaper; Mr. Chang Kyung Rok; Mr. Hong Soon Ho; Mr. Ko Kwang Rae; and Mr. Hyun Jong Myung.

At this meeting, some members favored the names Tangsoo and Kongsoo, but General Choi proposed that the new art should be called Taekwondo. Duk Sung Son says that he passed a piece of paper to Choi suggesting the name and that Choi took credit for it. Since Taekwondo translates to "tae" meaning a kick or strike with the foot, "kwon" meaning a punch or strike with the fist, and "do" meaning the way of, it described the arts use of strikes using both hands and feet. The name Taekwondo was unanimously adopted by the board, but  Mr. Yoo said " I completely agree with the name of Taekwondo submitted by General Choi Hong Hi, I think, however, it would be utterly significant that we have the approval from the President Synghman Rhee since giving a name to a martial art is so important". All the members unanimously agreed. The name was sent to President Rhee. At first, President Rhee rejected the name, preferring to use the traditional name Taekkyon. General Choi approached Mr. Kwak Yong Joo, the President's Chief of Staff, and Mr. Suh Jung Hak, the Director of the President's Protective Forces, and explained to them that this was a new art, much different from the old art of Taekyon. He asked them to try to persuade the President to accept the new name. Finally, Choi  received permission from President Rhee to use the new name Taekwondo.

After receiving the President's approval, Choi ordered the old Tangsoo signs in front of his Oh Do Kwan and Chung Do Kwan to be replaced with the new Taekwondo signs and he instructed the legendary Master Nam Tae Hee that Taekwondo soldiers say "Taekwon" when they salute each other. The name of Taekwondo gradually spread through the military ranks through Oh Do Kwan and to civilian students through Chung Do Kwan. The Third Military District Command in Tae Jon became one of the main centers of this new art.

Although most of the kwans merged under the common name of Taekwondo, there were a few who did not. It has never been clear which of the original eight did merge but Moo-duk-kwan remained a separate art called Tang-soo-do and Hapkido remains as a recognized separate art in itself. The new Taekwondo name appealed to the newly nationalistic Koreans since it was a totally Korean expression. It also had a close connection with the old name Taekkyon, in both pronunciation and meaning. It indicated that the art employed both hands and feet, unlike terms such as tang-so (Chinese hand) or karate (empty hand), which imply hand techniques only. Since this eventful meeting, Taekwondo has been recognized worldwide as the name for the Korean martial arts.

Over the next few decades, modern Taekwondo began to emerge from its Taekkyon and Shotokan karate roots.

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