Federal Actions to Address Offensive or Derogatory Geographical Names
INSIGHTi
Federal Actions to Address Offensive or
Derogatory Geographical Names
Updated February 26, 2024
Some stakeholders have brought renewed attention to names of geographical features in the United States
that they identify as offensive or derogatory and have called for accelerated processes to rename these
features. Generally, the process for federal renaming of geographical features involves public petition to
the U.S. Board on Geographical Names (BGN) for consideration on an individual basis, although
Congress may enact legislation establishing or changing geographical names. On November 19, 2021, the
Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) signed two secretarial orders (SOs) to establish processes to remove
derogatory names from federal geographic features and land units.
• SO 3404 formally identified the term squaw as derogatory and directed the U.S.
Geological Survey (USGS) to find geographic names bearing the term and to chair a
Derogatory Geographic Names Task Force to recommend replacement names to the BGN
for federal usage.
• SO 3405 directed the National Park Service (NPS) to form a discretionary Advisory
Committee on Reconciliation in Place Names to broadly solicit, review, and recommend
changes to derogatory federal geographic and land unit names.
This Insight describes the BGN process for renaming federal geographic features, the Department of the
Interior’s (DOI’s) progress on executing the SOs, and potential issues for Congress.
U.S. Board on Geographical Names
In 1947, P.L. 80-242 (43 U.S.C. §§364-364f) formally authorized the BGN, composed of representatives
of federal agencies, to establish and maintain uniform geographic name usage throughout the federal
government. The BGN, along with the Secretary, is tasked with solving name discrepancies; approving
new names; validating and recording existing names; and promulgating all official names in accordance
with its principles, policies, and procedures. By law, the BGN is responsible for all domestic federally
recognized geographic names except those applying to “offices or establishments” of federal agencies. In
practice, the BGN focuses on the names of natural features and certain water resource features (e.g.,
canals, reservoirs) and does not rule on the names of cultural or man-made features (e.g., roads, trails,
buildings).
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The BGN meets monthly to decide on geographic names issues, and its official decisions are recorded in
the Geographic Names Information System—the official federal repository for place-names maintained
by the USGS and BGN. The BGN’s Action List provides BGN decisions over the past year and the status
of pending proposals, with generally hundreds of proposals pending at any time.
BGN Process for Derogatory or Offensive Names
The BGN recognizes two classes of name changes: (1) those made to bring official federal usage into
agreement with established local usage and (2) those made to eliminate particular name problems (e.g.,
names asserted to be offensive). Any individual or agency may submit a proposal to the BGN to change
an existing name that they consider offensive; the proposal must include reasons why and a proposed
replacement name. With some exceptions, the BGN considers name changes on a case-by-case basis.
Progress of the Derogatory Geographic Names Task
Force
In response to SO 3404, the USGS identified geographic features with the term squaw in the name and
developed a list of five candidate names for each feature based on nearby named geographical features. In
February 2022, the USGS published two Federal Register notices in response to SO 3404:
• Requesting public comment on candidate replacement names for geographic feature
names and
• Providing notice of tribal consultation sessions and comment periods.
The task force received over 6,600 public comments by the comment deadline and approximately 300
comments through tribal consultation. After considering these comments, the task force made
recommendations for replacement names. The BGN voted on the final replacement names for 650 names
in September 2022 and for 7 additional names in January 2023. Although some have argued this
accelerated process may have renamed features out of line with local interests, the BGN has noted that
any interested party can propose a subsequent name change through the standard BGN process.
Advisory Committee on Reconciliation in Place Names
In January 2022, pursuant to SO 3405, NPS published a request for nominations to the Advisory
Committee on Reconciliation in Place Names. The committee is charged with developing a process to
solicit, encourage, and assist proposals to the Secretary to change derogatory geographic names within
existing federal land units and to identify additional terms that may be considered derogatory. In February
2022, NPS filed a committee charter, which specified that the committee is to report to the Secretary
through the Director of NPS and is to receive administrative and funding support from NPS. On August 9,
2022, Secretary Haaland announced the members appointed to the committee. As of February 2024, the
committee had met three times, most recently in November 2023.
Issues for Congress
In certain instances, recommendations for geographic name changes submitted to the BGN would require
an act of Congress to effectuate such a change. In particular, the BGN generally does not have the
authority to change geographic names of federal land units named and established by Congress. As a
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result, the newly established task force and committee may refer some of their recommendations to
Congress for legislative consideration.
In addition, Congress may have a broader interest in how the BGN and SO processes are executed and
may want to provide direction, whether through oversight or legislation. For example, there may be
interest in expanding or limiting the scope of what terms and names are considered under the SO 3405, or
in providing alternative administrative direction to this process or the BGN as a whole. The
Reconciliation in Place Names Act (S. 2400/H.R. 4454), introduced in July 2021, would have directed the
Secretary to establish a similar committee to that established under SO 3405 to advise the BGN for
renaming geographic features with names considered offensive or derogatory. The legislation also would
have defined what constitutes an “offensive place name” and would have established various timelines
and reporting requirements for consideration of potential geographic name changes. Conversely, the
Preserve Geographic Names Act (H.R. 7303), introduced in February 2024, would remove authorization
of the BGN while retaining the overall authority of the Secretary to provide for federal uniformity of
geographic names.
Author Information
Anna E. Normand
Mark K. DeSantis
Specialist in Natural Resources Policy
Analyst in Natural Resources Policy
Disclaimer
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