Naming places Archives | JuneauNature

In all my writing and cartography since publication of Haa L’éelk’w Hás Aani Saax’ú: Our grandparents’ names on the land (Thornton & Martin, eds. 2012), I’ve used Lingít place names whenever available, followed by their translation in italic, and colonial or “commemorative” name in parentheses.

Lingít place names in the downtown area.

Example: Kadigooni X’áat’, island with spring water (Spuhn Island). Carl Spuhn, if you’re interested, was like JM Vanderbilt a principal in the Northwest Trading Company that dislodged family fish camps and exhausted salmon & herring runs throughout Lingít Aaní. (Oh yeah, and the destruction of Angoon) Background checks are a good idea for commemorative names dating to the period of early imperialist invasion or Russian-to-American transfer. Participants rarely come up smelling rosy.

Where no place name is listed in Thornton & Martin (henceforth T&M12), I may default, for now at least, to the colonial name. Increasingly, however, I’ve been trying to wean myself from some of the most ‘aggressive’ commemoratives, especially the ‘big three:’ Juneau, Mendenhall and Gastineau. You can reduce the number of times you pronounce these unfortunate names by instead saying: Downtown, The Valley, and The Channel. In Áak’w and T’aakú Aaní, everyone will know what you mean.

And as for the name of this website—JuneauNature—sorry! After 4 years of incubation, I guess it’s irrevocably ‘locked-in.’ If I were starting today, I’d probably name it something like SoutheastAlaskaNature, less beholden to old white dudes. Or, better yet—since Southeast Alaska is also a euro-construct (“Southeast” of what?!)—LingítAaníNature. Of course, as an old white dude myself, I need to weigh support for the revolution against the perception of appropriation.

Restoration is perhaps the most urgent component of the place-names revolution. But for me, guilt and embarrassment are weak motivators. More sustaining is love—of the poetry and rationality of naming places according to their stories, oddities, and essences. As a naturalist I’m empowered and often thrilled by Lingít place names. Gunalchéesh, to all the elders, culture bearers and linguists who’ve shared them!

The essay Naming our home, summarizes what I’ve learned about the history of names, and the political realities of restoring original names to official maps. State and Federally funded maps can only use place names sanctified by the US Board on Geographic Names. Although ponderous, there are encouraging trends within that Washington DC-based institution, and even more good stuff happening in cartographic offices closer to home. Meanwhile, for our own maps, freed of bureaucratic constraints, let’s get down to it!