Photo taken on Sept. 3, 2021 shows the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States. [Photo/Xinhua]

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is drawing up plans to rebrand the Department of Defense as the Department of War, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday, citing a White House official.

The move came after Trump's recent indication to revive a name last used in 1947.

Restoring the discarded name of the Department of Defense could be done by an act of Congress, but the White House is mulling other methods to make the change, said the report.

The Pentagon started developing legislative proposals to make the change in the early weeks of the second term of Trump, who has floated the idea of a name change repeatedly. "One idea was to ask Congress for authority to restore the former name during a national emergency, while also reviving the title of secretary of war for the department's top civilian official," it said.

The old name "had a stronger sound," Trump said on Monday at the White House. "As Department of War we won everything, we won everything and I think we're going to have to go back to that."

The change would be made "over the next week or so," Trump said.