In Roman mythology, Pluto (Greek: Hades) is the god of the underworld. The planet received this name perhaps because it's so far from the Sun that is is in perpetual darkness.
Pluto was discovered in 1930 by a fortunate accident. Calculations which later turned out to be in error had predicted a planet beyond Neptune, based on the motions of Uranus and Neptune. Not knowing of the error, Clyde W. Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory in Arizona did a very careful sky survey which turned up Pluto anyway.
After the discovery, it was quickly determined that Pluto was too small to be a planet. The search for Planet X continued but nothing was found.
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