refer to it with the Caspi(an) descriptor; in Kazakh it is called ?????? ??????, Kaspiy teñizi, , . Others refer to it as the Khazar sea: ; , . In all these the first word refers to the historical Khazar Khaganate, a large empire based to the north of the Caspian Sea between the 7th-10th centuries.

In Iran, the lake is referred to as the Mazandaran Sea , after the historic Mazandaran Province