The British Great Trigonometrical Survey of India identified the two most prominent peaks in the Karakoram range as K1 and K2 (K standing for Karakoram). Contrary to what you might assume, the policy of the survey (which went on throughout most of the 19th century) was to use local names for mountains wherever possible. K1 was found to be known locally as Masherbrum, but no local name was found for K2 – probably because it's not visible from any village, or any place to which local people might venture. The nearest thing that K2 has to a local name is Chhogori (or Chogori), but in fact this simply means 'big mountain' in the local language (Balti). To quote Wikipedia, "evidence for its widespread use is scant. It may have been a compound name invented by Western explorers, or simply a bemused reply to the question 'What's that called?'."
Mount Godwin–Austen was suggested, in honor of Henry Godwin–Austen (1824–1923), an early explorer and surveyor of the area. This name was rejected by the Royal Geographical Society, but it was used on several maps, and (again according to Wikipedia) continues to be used occasionally.
At least one of the sources that Wikipedia quotes, however, says that to refer to the mountain as Mount Godwin–Austen is incorrect:
"Godwin Austen is the name of the glacier at its eastern foot and is only incorrectly used on some maps as the name of the mountain. It is interesting to note that a new word, Ketu, meaning 'big peak' seems to be entering the Balti language. One of our porters looked at Masherbrum and declared it to be a rgasha ketu (beautiful big mountain)." This is from an article in the American Alpine Journal, dated 1975.
© Haydn Thompson 2017