{"id":38610,"date":"2025-01-25T13:45:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-25T13:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=38610"},"modified":"2025-01-26T21:16:58","modified_gmt":"2025-01-26T21:16:58","slug":"can-trump-just-order-new-names-for-denali-and-the-gulf-of-mexico-a-geographer-explains-who-decides-what-goes-on-the-map","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/can-trump-just-order-new-names-for-denali-and-the-gulf-of-mexico-a-geographer-explains-who-decides-what-goes-on-the-map\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Trump just order new names for Denali and the Gulf of Mexico? A geographer explains who decides what goes on the map"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Innisfree McKinnon<\/a>, University of Wisconsin-Stout<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Donald Trump\u2019s executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska\u2019s Denali<\/a>, the tallest peak in the country<\/a>, has resulted in lots of discussion. While for some, such renaming might seem less important than the big problems the country faces, there is a formal process in the United States for renaming places, and that process is taken seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Usually, so people don\u2019t get confused, official, agreed-upon names are used by the government. In the U.S., place names are standardized by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names<\/a>, which is part of the U.S. Geological Survey, the agency in charge of making maps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his executive order<\/a>, Trump asks the Board on Geographic Names \u201cto honor the contributions of visionary and patriotic Americans\u201d and change its policies and procedures to reflect that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Usually, renaming a place starts locally. The people in the state or county propose a name change and gather support. The process in each state is different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Lake Bde Maka Ska, formerly Lake Calhoun, is the largest lake in Minneapolis. YinYang\/E+ via Getty<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How to change a place name<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Minnesota recently changed the name of a large lake<\/a> in Minneapolis to Bde Maka Ska, which the Minneapolis Park Board described as \u201ca Dakota name for the lake that has been passed down in oral history for many years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The board voted to change the name and took its request to the county commissioners. When the county agreed, the request was then sent to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, which made it official for Minnesota<\/a>. Then, the state of Minnesota sent the request to the Board on Geographic Names, which made it official for the entire U.S<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a lot of paperwork for something so seemingly minor, but people get passionate about place names. It took 40 years<\/a> to rename Denali from the name established in the late 19th century<\/a>, Mount McKinley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state of Alaska requested the name change in 1975<\/a>, but the Board on Geographic Names didn\u2019t take action. Members of the Ohio congressional delegation \u2013 President William McKinley was from Ohio \u2013 objected over many years<\/a> to requests to rename the mountain, and the board did not act on those requests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president appoints the secretary of the Interior Department<\/a>. The secretary works with the heads of related agencies to appoint the Board on Geographic Names. Current committee policy states, \u201cInput from State geographic names authorities, land management agencies, local governments, and Tribal Governments<\/a> are actively pursued.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2015, President Barack Obama named a new leader for the Department of the Interior, Sally Jewell<\/a>. Just as Obama made a trip to Alaska in late August 2015<\/a>, Jewell declared the name change official under a law that allows the secretary of the Interior to change a name if the board doesn\u2019t act on the proposal in a \u201creasonable\u201d amount of time<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis name change recognizes the sacred status of Denali<\/a> to many Alaska Natives,\u201d Jewell said. \u201cThe name Denali has been official for use by the State of Alaska since 1975, but even more importantly, the mountain has been known as Denali for generations. With our own sense of reverence for this place, we are officially renaming the mountain Denali in recognition of the traditions of Alaska Natives and the strong support of the people of Alaska.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If someone objects to a name change, they could ask the courts to rule on whether the name change was made legally. Going back to Bde Maka Ska, some people objected to changing the name from Lake Calhoun, so they took the state natural resources agency to court<\/a>. Eventually, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that the name change was done correctly<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alaska\u2019s two U.S. senators and prominent state figures have strongly objected to Trump\u2019s renaming attempt<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How not to change a place name<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Renaming the Gulf of Mexico is a different kind of case, however, from renaming a geographic place within U.S. borders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gulf is not within the territorial<\/a> U.S. On the coast, the first 12 miles from shore<\/a> are considered part of that country, but outside of that is international waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Board on Geographic Names could change the name to Gulf of America on official U.S. maps, but there is no international board in charge of place names. Each country decides what to call places. And there is no official way for the U.S. to make other countries change the name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s possible that the U.S. could formally ask other countries to change the name, or even impose sanctions against countries that don\u2019t comply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the names were officially changed in the U.S., the government would use the new names in official documents, signage and maps. As for all the people and companies in the world that make maps, they usually use the official names. But there is nothing that would force them to, if they believed that a certain name is more widely recognized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Jan. 24, 2025, the U.S. Department of the Interior issued a statement on the name changes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn accordance with President Donald J. Trump\u2019s recent executive order, the Department of the Interior is proud to announce the implementation of name restorations that honor the legacy of American greatness, with efforts already underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“As directed by the President, the Gulf of Mexico will now officially be known as the Gulf of America and North America\u2019s highest peak will once again bear the name Mount McKinley\u2026.The U.S. Board on Geographic Names, under the purview of the Department of the Interior, is working expeditiously to update the official federal nomenclature in the Geographic Names Information System to reflect these changes, effective immediately for federal use.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story has been updated to reflect the Department of Interior\u2019s statement on Jan. 25, 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Innisfree McKinnon<\/a>, Associate Professor of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Stout<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Innisfree McKinnon, University of Wisconsin-Stout President Donald Trump\u2019s executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska\u2019s Denali, the tallest peak in the country, has resulted in lots of discussion. While for some, such renaming might seem less important than the big problems the country faces, there is a formal process in the United […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":38611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8025,46,295,296,36,4,9],"tags":[479,1900,4530,6337,885,891,886,860,6019,15966],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38610"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38610"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38612,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38610\/revisions\/38612"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}