Gonbad-e Kāvūs

The modern name is a reference to an imposing ancient tower, the Tomb of Qabus. The monument itself was assigned to the neighboring historical city of Astarabad in the 1930s by the Iranian government. The city has also been known by the name Dasht-e Gorgan, meaning "the Plains of Gorgan".

In the historical times, the city's populations were made up of various Iranic peoples such as the ancient and eponymous Hyrcanians, Parthians and eventually the Khurasani Persians.

Today, however, the population is a mix of Turkmens, Iranian Azerbaijanis, Sistanis, Baluch, Semnanis, and Khorasanis. The Persians and Iranian Azeris tend to mainly follow Shia Islam while the Turkmens are mostly Sunni Muslim.