Velenje (Wöllan ) is Slovenia's sixth-largest city, and the seat of the Municipality of Velenje. The city is located in northeastern Slovenia, among the rolling green hills of the Šalek Valley, with the Kamnik–Savinja Alps to the west and the Pohorje Mountains to the east.
Velenje was first attested in written sources in 1264 as Weln (and as Welan in 1270, and Belen and Welen in 1296). The name derives from *Velen′e selo 'Velenъ's village'. A less likely hypothesis derives the name from the Slovene common noun velen(je) 'pasture for livestock'. The name of the town was changed to Titovo Velenje (literally, 'Tito's Velenje') in 1981 in honor of the Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito. The name Velenje was restored in 1990, just before the declaration of Slovenian independence in 1991. In the past, the German name of the settlement was Wöllan.