Tunceli means the land (el) of bronze (tunç) in Turkish, a partial calque of the city's archaic name "Dersim", means silver (sim) door (der) in Kurdish. Whether the name of the town is Tunceli or Dersim has been a reason for political quarrels. The local authority decided to call it Dersim in May 2019, while the Governor said it was against the law to call it Dersim.

During the Ottoman Empire, Tunceli (then known as Kalan) was a part of the region named Dersim. In 1847 Dersim was declared a sanjak (a historical administrative unit smaller than the province). The capital of the sanjak was Hozat. During the Republican period Tunceli Province was established in 1935. In 1946 the former town of Kalan was renamed as Tunceli and it was declared as the capital city of the province.

As a result of the Turkish campaign of "Turkification", Tunceli became a main target of Turkish officials after the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923. Tunceli played a role in the Dersim rebellion.

Tunceli is famous for excellent rankings in National Education statistics.