The story
After Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse, its discoverer.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
La Pérouse Strait
Today it means: A strait dividing the Russian island of Sakhalin in the north from the Japanese island of Hokkaido, and connecting the Sea of Japan on the west with the Sea of Okhotsk on the east. Full definition →