Within hours of taking office, President Donald Trump outlined in one of his many executive orders a mission to celebrate American greatness and to recognize those who have made contributions throughout history.
He jumpstarted the effort by ordering the name of North America’s tallest peak to be changed from Denali back to Mount McKinley in honor of the nation’s 25th president, William McKinley. He also called on the U.S. Interior Department to work with Alaska Natives and others to adopt names for other landmarks that would honor their history and culture.
The U.S. Board on Geographic Names will play a role. The little known panel made up of officials from several federal agencies has been in existence since 1890.
How did the board get its start?
As more settlers and prospectors headed west following the American Civil War, it became apparent the federal government needed some kind of consistency for referencing landmarks on maps and in official documents.
In comes President Benjamin Harrison. He issued an executive order establishing the board in hopes of resolving some of the confusion.
President Theodore Roosevelt took it further in 1906, making the board responsible for standardizing geographic names for use across the federal government. That included changing names for some spots and identifying unnamed features.
It was President Franklin Roosevelt who dissolved the board in 1934, opting instead to transfer duties to the Interior Department. After World War II, Congress changed course and reestablished the panel.
The board under the Trump administration will have new members, but the makeup will be the same with representatives from several agencies ranging from the Interior and Commerce departments to the Post Office and the Library of Congress. Even the CIA plays a role when the board considers place names beyond U.S. borders.
The members are appointed for two-year terms by the respective heads of the agencies they represent. The committee that deals with names on U.S. soil meets monthly.
What’s in a name?
The board is quite aware of the importance of a name, noting in its guiding principles, policies and procedures that the names of geographic features throughout the U.S. reflect the nation’s history and its changing face.
The board points out that names of Native American origin are found sprinkled throughout the land and there are traces of the languages spoken by early explorers.
“It is in these ways and many others that geographic naming gives us a clear, exciting profile of the United States that is unmatched in any other medium,” the board states.
In the case of Mount McKinley, original inhabitants had unique names for the mountain long before prospectors showed up. For the Koyukon Athabaskans, it’s always been “deenaalee,” roughly translated as “the high one.”
Despite never having visited Alaska, McKinley’s name became attached to the mountain in 1896, labeled by a gold prospector after the Republican was nominated as a presidential candidate. McKinley, who signed legislation in 1900 making gold the sole standard for U.S. currency, was assassinated just six months into his second term and the name Mount McKinley stuck.
Alaska wasn’t a state then and it would take decades before elected officials there would petition the Board on Geographic Names to return to what locals knew best. But their efforts were repeatedly blocked. Then in 2015, after years of pressure from Alaska Natives and other advocates, President Barack Obama issued an order making Denali official for federal purposes.
Like so many sites across the U.S., the peak is more than a tourist attraction. It’s woven into the cultural fabric of those who call the area home, said Valerie Grussing, executive director of the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers.
“It’s a sacred place,” she told The Associated Press, adding, “the name we use for it should reflect that sacred relationship between the people and the land.”
Have name-changing campaigns made a difference?
In the 1960s and 1970s, the Board on Geographic Names took action to eliminate the use of derogatory terms related to Japanese and Black people.
More recently, former U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland initiated a campaign to eliminate offensive names at hundreds of places around the nation. She highlighted the work during her farewell address to department employees just weeks ago, saying the effort to address derogatory words would continue.
In 2023, the board voted to change Mount Evans southwest of Denver to Mount Blue Sky at the request of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes. Two years earlier, more than a dozen sites with racist and offensive names in Texas were renamed.
In 2008, the board approved a proposal to change the name of a prominent Phoenix mountain to Piestewa Peak to honor Army Spc. Lori Piestewa, the first Native American woman to die in combat while serving in the U.S. military.
And now there’s a campaign brewing in Alaska to have Denali restored. It’s too early to say whether that will result in a new proposal before the board.
The Interior Department on Friday took steps to update the peak’s name in the federal Geographic Names Information System. Since the board’s decisions are binding only for the federal government, it’s possible Denali will live on through Google and Apple map applications and other private mapping services.
Who can propose a name change?
Any person, government agency, Native American tribe or organization can submit a proposal to the board, as long as there is a compelling reason and evidence to support it. The support of local communities and historical or genealogical societies helps.
“A new name will affect many people for a long time; thus, it must be acceptable to local citizens, involved local, state, and federal agencies, and other users,” board policy states.
While its role over the years has grown, the board says its principles for deciding whose name may be applied to a natural feature for U.S. official maps and publications have stood the test of time. In some cases, the board may be able to suggest alternatives to geographic naming that might better commemorate an individual.
The board prohibits consideration of any derogatory names and it won’t consider proposals involving the names of living people or anyone who has been dead less than five years.
Once settled on, the names are listed in the official repository of geographic names used by the federal government. The system includes more than 2.5 million name records.
