Names for an independent Sakhalin

I've been working a bit on a timeline where an independent Sakhalin is created following the end of the Second World War. The general idea I have is that Japan keeps the entire island following the end of the intervention in the Russian Civil War (they held the northern parts of the island OTL but gave them up in the mid-20s). Due to a reason I haven't yet settled on (the Aleutian plan for a northern advance on Japan takes hold, the Soviets do worse in the West, and don't have any naval invasion in the East in 1945, I'm not sure yet), the US gains control of the island at the end of WW2. Operation Keelhaul and similar repatriation of Soviet POWs, conscript labor, and refugees doesn't take place. The idea is hatched to try and resettle at least some of these new stateless persons on Sakhalin. But I'm a little stuck when it comes to names for this hypothetical independent nation that consists of Sakhalin (and perhaps the Kuriles) - the Sakhalin Republic is fairly bland. Does anyone know of any other potential local or historic names for the area that might be a better fit?
 
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The Japanese called it Karafuto, maybe you could work off of that? Sakhalin is still probably the best though... Generally though, you want a name that is descriptive. To get an interesting name (especially for a dictatorship), I find adding titles to the country's to be a good way for do that. For example, if you want this Sakhalin country to be an American client regime, "The Sakhalin Democratic Republic" or the "Sakhalin Free Republic" could be good. Maybe something slightly more badass, like the "Republic of the Borealis"...?
 

Thande

Donor
Sakhalin's native inhabitants include the Ainu, Oroks and Nivkhs, the latter also being archaically known as Gilyaks to the Russians. I can't seem to find what Sakhalin might be in their native languages though.
 
At such a late POD any of the natives will be very small minorities, unless the Japanese or Russian majority decides to co-opt the native name.
 

Thande

Donor
At such a late POD any of the natives will be very small minorities, unless the Japanese or Russian majority decides to co-opt the native name.

I was thinking of this. You know how it sometimes happens when people adopt a rather inappropriate archaic native name as a "boo colonialism" statement, e.g. Zimbabwe.
 
I was thinking of this. You know how it sometimes happens when people adopt a rather inappropriate archaic native name as a "boo colonialism" statement, e.g. Zimbabwe.

Hm. Interesting idea.

Sakhalin (Sagha-Alin) is Tungusic, and Karafuto is given a very wacky Ainu-origin derivation by the wiki.

Qing-era Chinese name for local people is Guwei/Kuwu/Kuye which translates really poorly to both Japanese and Russian. Hm.

But it's somewhere to start.
 
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