Largest unnamed island

March 9, 2020 4:10 PM

What's the largest (by area) unnamed island in the world?

I tried Googling this but only came up with mentions of the island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island in Canada, and some country-specific examples ("largest unnamed island in the United States" etc.).

posted by Paragon to Science & Nature (3 answers total)

I suspect this may be a moving target, though there must be one at any one time. What it is now, I am not sure.

(Is this possibly a Berry Paradox? If so, that would help us name it.)
posted by klausman at 5:05 PM on March 9, 2020 [3 favorites]

Largest unnamed island is a definite description, not a name, so I think we’re safe from paradoxes or proving by induction that all islands are named.

As to the question: here’s an answer for a restricted version of the question to start things off.
The largest island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island is a nameless, approximately 4.0-hectare (10-acre) island at 66.687°N 70.479°W, situated within Nettilling Lake on Baffin Island, Canada.

I’ll note it is not a new island, and every current new island on Wikipedia’s page already has a name, and many are even smaller than the nameless example above.
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:05 PM on March 9, 2020 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I suppose a lack of “official name” is what I am looking for, and that isn’t restricted to new islands - many of Indonesia’s smaller islands are unnamed, for example. The unnamed island in South Australia is 13ha.
posted by Paragon at 6:47 PM on March 9, 2020