Mt. McKinley, a mountain peak in Alaska, and the tallest mountain in North America, is back for the second time. The peak was officially recognized as Mt. McKinley in 1917 by the US BGN (Board on Geographic Names). On August 28, 2015, the name was changed by Executive Order of the Secretary of the Interior (under the Obama administration) to Denali, an Athabascan Native American name. Denali has been the official name in the State of Alaska since 1975.
The change back to Mt. McKinley was ordered by President Trump on January 20, 2025. The order instructed the Secretary of the Interior to reinstate the name Mount McKinley within 30 days.
The Secretary (Doug Burgum) then issued an order on February 14, 2025 to
immediately take all actions necessary to update the Geographic Names Information System to rename Denali to Mount McKinley.
The order notes that the national park area surrounding Mt. McKinley will continue to be called Denali National Park and Preserve. The order also requires Department of Interior staff to
work with Alaska Native entities and state and local organizations to pursue adopting names for landmarks to honor the history and culture of the Alaskan people.
The background to the order states
It is in the national interest to promote the extraordinary heritage of our Nation and ensure future generations of American citizens celebrate the legacy of our American heroes. The naming of our national treasures, including breathtaking natural wonders and historic works of art, should honor the contributions of visionary and patriotic Americans in our Nation’s rich past.
GNIS (the Geographic Names Information System) has been updated to show Mt. McKinley as the primary name for the peak, with Denali listed as one of its many alternate names.
Users should not confuse Mt. McKinley (GNIS ID 1414314) with McKinley Peak (GNIS ID 1423626), which is also in Alaska.
The change to Denali in 2015 reflected awareness of the significance of Native American names. BGN policies take special note of Native American names to ensure acceptance by tribal officials. This issue has surfaced across the country, including in Wisconsin, in the recent removal of culturally insensitive names (see here and here). As noted in an earlier post about another name change (the Gulf of Mexico becoming the Gulf of America), Executive Orders are legally official, and therefore, are not bound by BGN principles, policies, and procedures.
Many bytes of data have been expended on the web about the Denali and Gulf of Mexico decisions, including statements about private map providers like Google and Apple “dragging their feet” or “refusing to make the changes.” The reality is that cartography depends on standardized name forms to convey information accurately, that it can take time to make changes to maps when map updates follow a regular (e.g., annual or semi-annual) cycle, and that names are unlikely to be changed until they are officially recognized and updated in GNIS.
Currently, Google and Apple both show Mt. McKinley (at least to users in the United States) although users can still search for Denali. The same is true for the Gulf of America.
Is this the end of the new administration’s name change orders? We will have to wait and see…