 The city is situated in the historical region of Moldavia, at the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, and on the Bistrița River (which meets the Siret River about to the south of Bacău).The Ghimeș Pass links Bacău to the region of Transylvania.The town's name, which features in Old Church Slavonic documents as "Bako", "Bakova" or "Bakovia", comes most probably from a personal name.