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Names

The name is likely to derive from the settlement of an area around Azov, whose name comes from the Kipchak Turkish asak or azaq 'lowlands'. A Russian pseudo-etymology, however, instead derives it from an eponymous Cuman prince named "Azum" or "Asuf", said to have been killed defending his town in 1067. A formerly common spelling of the name in English was the Sea of Azoff.

In antiquity, the sea had other names (Latin: Palus Maeotis; Greek: Μαιῶτις λίμνη or now Latin: mare Asoviense;).In antiquity, the sea was usually known as the Maeotis Swamp (Ancient Greek: ἡ Μαιῶτις λίμνη, hē Maiōtis límnē; Latin: Palus Maeotis) from the marshlands to its northeast. It remains unclear whether it was named for the nearby Maeotians or if that name was applied broadly to various peoples who happened to live beside it. Other names included Lake Maeotis or Maeotius (Mæotius or Mæotis Lacus); the Maeotian or Maeotic Sea (Mæotium or Mæoticum Æquor); the Cimmerian or Scythican Swamps (Cimmeriae or Scythicæ Paludes); and the Cimmerian or Bosporic Sea (Cimmericum or Bosporicum Mare). The Maeotians themselves were said by Pliny to call the sea Temarunda (alternative spellings Temarenda and Temerinda), meaning "Mother of Waters".

The medieval Russians knew it as the Sea of Surozh after the adjacent city now known as Sudak. It was known in Ottoman Turkish as the Balük-Denis ("Fish Sea") from its high productivity.