It was used officially only after Wallachia and Moldavia chose the same ruler in 1859. Previously Wallachian and Moldavian rulers had sometimes been referred to by the term, though their official titles had been voivode and hospodar, especially after they began being officially nominated by the Ottoman EmpireSultans. The word itself is derived from the Romanian "domn" (lord), in turn originating in the Latin "Dominus".
The only two domnitori of Romania were