Why It Matters

The U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN) sets geographic names for federal use, placing presidential renaming directives within an existing system for standardizing official terminology. Congress formally authorized the board through P.L. 80-242 in 1947 to promote uniformity in geographic nomenclature throughout the federal government.

According to a new report from the Congressional Research Service, that framework now intersects with the Trump administration's directives to restore Mount McKinley in Alaska and rename Lake Ontario as Lake America for federal use. The practical stakes extend beyond labels because federal databases, publications, mapping services, and other governments may not use the same names.

For Congress, the issue is whether naming policy should remain primarily administrative or receive additional direction through legislation and appropriations.

The Big Picture

The BGN performs its duties through the Domestic Names Committee and the Foreign Names Committee.

The BGN generally considers proposals on a case-by-case basis, and any individual or agency may submit a proposal to change an existing name or establish a name for an unnamed feature. The DNC's commemorative-naming policy generally limits naming to people deceased for at least five years and requires a direct or long-term association with the feature or a significant contribution to the area.

Those policies generally do not govern names established by Congress, a treaty, or an executive order, leaving the board to promulgate those names for official use and update federal databases. Executive Order 14172, signed Jan. 20, 2025, directed the Interior secretary to take appropriate steps within 30 days to restore Mount McKinley, and Secretarial Order 3424 later directed the board to reinstate Mount McKinley and update the Geographic Names Information System.

Executive Order 14422, signed on August 27, directed changing the federal-use name of Lake Ontario to Lake America, while Secretarial Order 3453 directed the BGN to implement the renaming and update the GNIS.

The Bottom Line

The record points to two parallel routes for changing official place names, the board's case-by-case process and direct action through presidential, congressional, or treaty authority.

The Mount McKinley dispute also illustrates that a mountain and the surrounding park can carry different official names, because Congress renamed the park Denali National Park and Preserve in 1980 while Executive Order 14172 preserved that park name.

Other proposals would alter how future disputes are handled by creating an advisory committee for names considered offensive or derogatory and requiring notice to lawmakers about proposals affecting areas they represent. The Senate-passed S. 2431 would have barred funding for promulgating a name other than Denali for the mountain then called Mount McKinley, but that provision was not included in the final full-year fiscal 2026 appropriations law.

International practice leaves room for parallel names when countries sharing a geographic feature cannot agree, while the United States' federal choices remain part of a broader naming landscape rather than a universal rule.

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