2581: Bougainville Jan 7, 2022

The island of Bougainville, now in a transitory period as it gains independence from Papua New Guinea, has a French name, but was never colonized by the French. It was first a German colony, then after WWI it was handed over to Australia before its invasion by Japan. Throughout this, it retained its French-derived name from the first European explorer there, Louis Antoine de Bougainville. In the native creole, this is Bogenvil, but in 1975 they also tried to gain independence under the name Republic of the North Solomons but yet again, it didn't change.