 The government eventually decided to use the name Hokkaidō, but decided to write it as , as a compromise between and because of the similarity with names such as .According to Matsuura, the name was thought up because the Ainu called the region "Kai".Historically, many peoples who had interactions with the ancestors of the Ainu called them and their islands "Kuyi", "Kuye", "Qoy", or some similar name, which may have some connection to the early modern form "Kai".