This is the 12144th most frequent Russian word.
именовался
"Was named" or "was called."
The word "именовался" is used here to express that the island's previous name was Green.
Этот остров именовался Зелёным до его переименования.
This island was called Green before its renaming.
The word "именовался" indicates the name that was attributed to the ship in the past.
Корабль в старые времена именовался "Гроза морей".
The ship in old times was named "Sea Storm."
Here, "именовался" refers to the name given to the city according to the manuscript.