{"id":1436,"date":"2016-04-04T10:49:24","date_gmt":"2016-04-04T14:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1436"},"modified":"2016-10-31T21:59:34","modified_gmt":"2016-11-01T01:59:34","slug":"washington-state-senator-seeks-removal-of-offensive-place-names","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/04\/washington-state-senator-seeks-removal-of-offensive-place-names\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington State Senator Seeks Removal of Offensive Place Names"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Washington state senator, Pramila Jayapal, is pushing for\u00a0some three dozen racially charged place names to be changed<\/a>\u00a0(her press release<\/a>). A list and map of the place names is here<\/a>. From the\u00a0Crosscut<\/em> article<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Changing place names can be a laborious process. The\u00a0Washington State Committee on Geographic Names<\/a>\u00a0reviews proposals, and recommends changes to the Washington State Board on Geographic Names. Both operate under DNR and cannot initiate changes on their own. To do that, the board seeks input from the public, tribes, historians, historical societies, scholars, and political entities such as county commissions, etc. who can support, oppose or remain neutral on a name change. Citizens can nominate new names that must have relevance. The names board then makes a final judgment.<\/p>\n

Once a name is changed on state maps, it goes to the federal level for consideration by the\u00a0U.S. Board on Geographic Names<\/a>, which oversees the federal name database. That database is the source of names on national maps and databases, ranging from the Park Service to Google.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Relevant to this issue\u00a0is Mark Monmonier’s 2006 book,\u00a0From Squaw Tit to Whorehouse Meadow: How Maps Name, Claim and Inflame<\/em><\/a> (Amazon<\/a>, iBooks<\/a>), which I reviewed when it was released<\/a>: its third chapter deals with removing racially pejorative names from the map. [via<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Washington state senator, Pramila Jayapal, is pushing for\u00a0some three dozen racially charged place names to be changed\u00a0(her press release). A list and map of the place names is here. From the\u00a0Crosscut article: Changing place… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[692],"tags":[399],"class_list":["post-1436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-toponyms","tag-washington-state","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1805461,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/11\/secretary-haaland-takes-action-against-derogatory-place-names\/","url_meta":{"origin":1436,"position":0},"title":"Secretary Haaland Takes Action Against Derogatory Place Names","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"22 November 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"We\u2019ve seen efforts to replace racist and offensive place names in the past, but in general they\u2019ve happened at the state or provincial level. But on Friday U.S. interior secretary Deb Haaland took action at the federal level. She issued two orders designed to speed up the replacement of derogatory\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Toponyms"","block_context":{"text":"Toponyms","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/toponyms\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1788998,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/07\/maine-reviews-registry-containing-racist-place-names\/","url_meta":{"origin":1436,"position":1},"title":"Maine Reviews Registry Containing Racist Place Names","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"14 July 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"The Portland Press-Herald: \u201cState officials have removed an official registry of Maine islands for review after the Press Herald inquired about how at least five privately owned islands and ledges still have names incorporating racial slurs, decades after they were forbidden under state law.\u201d The registry is the Coastal Island\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Toponyms"","block_context":{"text":"Toponyms","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/toponyms\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1805974,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/02\/the-atlantic-on-the-board-of-geographic-names\/","url_meta":{"origin":1436,"position":2},"title":"The Atlantic on the Board of Geographic Names","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"3 February 2022","format":"link","excerpt":"The Atlantic\u2019s David A. Graham looks at the history and painstaking deliberation of the Board of Geographic Names. \u201cUsually, the public eye is far from the BGN, a member of the class of government bodies whose work you could go a lifetime without thinking about, even though it\u2019s all around\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Toponyms"","block_context":{"text":"Toponyms","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/toponyms\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1789750,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/12\/approved-and-rejected-place-names-in-ontario\/","url_meta":{"origin":1436,"position":3},"title":"Approved and Rejected Place Names in Ontario","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"5 December 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"CBC News explores how places in Ontario receive new names. There are hundreds of thousands of unnamed places in the province, and at the rate new names are being approved by the Ontario Geographic Names Board, it\u2019s likely to stay that way: 85 new names have been approved in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Toponyms"","block_context":{"text":"Toponyms","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/toponyms\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3516,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/12\/xkcds-u-s-state-names\/","url_meta":{"origin":1436,"position":4},"title":"xkcd’s U.S. State Names","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"2 December 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"Randall is messing with us again in today's xkcd, which assigns malapropisms and synophones to U.S. state names.\u00a0The results are about what you'd expect. Previously:\u00a0xkcd\u2019s United States Map.","rel":"","context":"In "Unusual Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Unusual Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/unusual-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Randall Munroe, ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/us_state_names.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/us_state_names.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/us_state_names.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/us_state_names.png?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1836474,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/02\/google-and-the-gulf\/","url_meta":{"origin":1436,"position":5},"title":"Google and the Gulf","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"11 February 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"What I see here in Canada. Google Maps (screenshot) Three weeks to the day after Trump\u2019s executive order directing that the Gulf of Mexico be renamed Gulf of America, the new name now appears on Google Maps for U.S. users; outside the U.S. and Mexico, users see both names. A\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Toponyms"","block_context":{"text":"Toponyms","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/toponyms\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/google-gulf-america.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/google-gulf-america.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/google-gulf-america.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/google-gulf-america.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/google-gulf-america.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/google-gulf-america.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1436"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1437,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1436\/revisions\/1437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}