"Liúqiú" is the pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of the Chinese name . The same name was previously written Liuchiu, Liu-chiu, or Liu-ch'iu using the Wade-Giles system; and Ryūkyū from its Japanese pronunciation. The original Liuqiu appears in the Book of Sui and other medieval Chinese records as an island kingdom somewhere in the East China Sea. It was written by different authors with different homophonous characters and appears to have transcribed a native name. That kingdom has been variously identified with states on Taiwan Island, Okinawa, and the Penghu Islands. The name Liuqiu Islet (, "yǔ") was first used during the Ming Dynasty. Since "Ryūkyū" is also the name of the nearby Ryukyu archipelago including Okinawa and a historical kingdom there, the island has also been nicknamed (小琉球, Pinyin "Xiǎo Liúqiú") as opposed to "Big Liuqiu" (大琉球) for the Ryukyu Islands or Taiwan - since the early 20th century. Transcriptions of the nickname include Xiao Liuqiu, Siaoliouciou, and Sio Liu-khiu.