The third pre-state convention was held in Danville on Monday, August 8, 1775. The same two folks were elected [Samuel McDowell as President and Thomas Todd as Clerk]. This would have only been about 4 months from the May meeting. Following this meeting, a letter was sent to the Virginia "General Assembly" dated 23 September 1785. According to James Robertson, the first action looking toward the creating of Kentucky into a separate State is found in an act entitled, "An Act concerning the erection of the district of Kentucky into an independent state". [Henings Statutes, Vol. 12, 37.]
"Whereas it is represented to be the desire of the good people inhabiting the district known by the name of the Kentucky District that the same should be separated from this Commonwealth whereof it is a part and be formed into an independent member of the American Confederacy..."
Wow...here it is. The first "...desire of the good people inhabiting the district..." which was part of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Must be how we came to be called the "Commonwealth of Kentucky".
Reference is taken from: "Petitions of The Early Inhabitants of Kentucky To The General Assembly of Virginia 1769 to 1792", by James Rood Robertson, John P. Morton & Co., 1914. [p 82]