The US Board on Geographic Names: The little-known panel Trump has thrown in the spotlight

In one of his many executive orders, he outlined a mission to celebrate American achievements and to acknowledge those who have made significant contributions throughout history.

Residents and immigrants are encouraged to suggest names for monuments and other prominent features that pay tribute to their heritage and cultural background.

The US Board on Geographic Names will be involved. The relatively obscure panel, comprised of officials from several federal departments, was established as far back as 1890.

As the number of settlers and prospectors migrating west after the American Civil War increased, it became clear that the federal government required a more standardised system for identifying landmarks on maps and documents.

In walks President Harrison. He issues an executive order setting up the board, with the aim of sorting out some of the confusion.

In 1906, it was taken further, giving the board the duty of standardising geographic names for use by the federal government across the country. This entailed renaming certain places and identifying previously unlabelled features.

It was President Franklin D Roosevelt who abolished the board in 1934, choosing to shift its responsibilities to the Department of the Interior. Subsequent to World War II, Parliament altered its policy and re-established the committee.

Members of the board under the Trump administration will be refreshed, but the composition will remain unchanged. The board's makeup will continue to comprise representatives from various government departments, including those for the Interior and Commerce, as well as the Post Office and the Library of Congress. The CIA will also play a part when the board considers place names that lie beyond US borders.

The committee members, who are respectively chosen for two-year periods, are appointed by the leaders of the organisations they represent. The panel that operates within the US holds meetings on a monthly basis.

The committee is well aware of the significance of names, as stated in its guiding principles, policies and procedures, which take into account the fact that the names of geographic features throughout the United States reflect the country's history and its evolving character.

The board observes that place names of Native American descent are scattered across the region and remnants of the languages spoken by early explorers can be detected.

"It is through these means and many others that geographic naming provides us with a clear and engaging portrayal of the USA that is unique to any other platform," the board states.

The native inhabitants of Mount McKinley had distinct names for the mountain prior to the arrival of prospectors. In the Koyukon Athabaskan language, the mountain is referred to as "deenaalee", which translates to "the high place" or "the high one".

Although the US president William McKinley had never visited Alaska, the mountain was given his name in 1896, after a gold prospector named it in honour of the recently confirmed Republican presidential candidate. McKinley, the one who had introduced a 1900 law making gold the sole standard currency in the US, was assassinated before completing his second term in office in 1900, and the name Mount McKinley has stuck since.

Renamed it to Denali for federal purposes, following an official edict.

Similar to numerous sites throughout the United States, the peak holds a strong cultural significance for the local community, according to Valerie Grussing, director of the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers.

It's a treasured location," she said to The Associated Press, saying, "the name we use for it should reflect that special bond between people and the land.

Have name-changing initiatives had a noticeable impact?

In the 1960s and 1970s, a decision was made by the UK's geographical names authority, the Board on Geographic Names, to phase out terms deemed derogatory towards people of Japanese and Black ethnicity.

More recently, former UK Secretary of State for the Environment, Deb Haaland, launched a campaign to rename hundreds of places across the country which had off-putting names. In her final address to department staff just a short while ago, she pointed to the continued work being done to address derogatory terms at those sites.

In 2023, the board passed a resolution to rename Mount Evans, in the west of Denver, to Mount Blue Sky at the request of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes. Two years previously, the titles of more than a dozen sites in Texas were altered to remove racist and derogatory names.

In 2008, the board gave the go-ahead to rename a famous Phoenix mountain after Piestewa Peak, in honour of US servicewoman Army Spc. Lori Piestewa, who was the first American Indian woman to be killed on active duty while serving in the US armed forces.

And now, a movement is gaining momentum in Alaska regarding a bid to reinstate the name Denali. It's too early to predict if this will lead to a fresh proposal being put to the board.

The Ministry for the Environment on Friday took action to change the peak's name in the government's official map database. Although the board's decisions only apply to the government, the new name may still appear on private mapping services such as Google and Apple Maps.

Can any individual or organisation request a change of name?

Anyone, regardless of nationality, nationality, tribal affiliation, or affiliation, can submit a proposal to the board with a sound reason and supporting evidence. Input from local communities and historical or family history groups is beneficial.

The proposed name should have a long-lasting impact on the community, so it must be well-received by local residents, as well as relevant town, county, and national authorities, and other stakeholders.

The board has observed a shift in its duties but asserts that its protocols for determining whose name may be featured on natural landmarks on US official maps and publications have been robustly resilient. In certain situations, the board can propose alternative geographical designations that may more meaningfully honour an individual.

The board has a policy against taking into account any disparaging names and will not entertain suggestions featuring the names of individuals who are still alive or have passed away within the last five years.

The chosen names are included in the official government database of geographic names. This database holds over 2.5 million entries.

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