The Lazarev Sea was named in 1962 by the Soviet Antarctic Expedition in honor of Russian admiral Mikhail Lazarev (1788–1851), who discovered the Antarctic mainland with Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen in 1820. The 2002 IHO draft was never approved by the IHO (or any other organization), and the 1953 IHO document (which does not contain this name) remains currently in force. Leading geographic authorities and atlases do not use the name, including the 2014 10th edition World Atlas from the United States' National Geographic Society and the 2014 12th edition of the British Times Atlas of the World. But Soviet and Russian-state maps do.