Council of Geographic Names Authorities
in the United States
cogna50usa.org
2013 Geographic Names Conference

     Although the government sequester had a major affect on attendance the conference was a great success.  The conference started with the annual business meeting, followed by an opening receptions.  Because many of the federal employees were not allowed to attend the meeting of the Domestic Names Committee meeting could not be held.  Attendees made the best of the situation by taking a field trip to the Nature Center.  The state reports were informative with every state present providing information on their activities for the past year.  The reports were followed by the State-Federal Roundtable which always provides a lively discussion of concerns.  The academic presentation of papers providing interesting topics were well prepared and delivered.  Following a great meal our banquet speaker, Mark Seeley provided a look at names and how weather patterns affected many incidents in Minnesota.



Program of Events

 
TUESDAY, April 30

Registration


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State Names Reports: COGNA 2013 Bloomington, MN



Minnesota – Pete Boulay.  Pete welcomed the attendees.  Minnesota is still a one-person board and has been for over 40 years.  Approved Minnesota State names over the past year included: McDonald Lake, Musselshell Creek, Island Lake Creek, and Petrell Creek. A number of names have been added to the “under discussion” list. Pete also mentioned the preparation for COGNA 2013.


Alaska – Jo Antonson. Joan discussed a native language map. Names cases include Eichner Mountain and Gandláay Háanaa, with the latter having issues with people stealing the sign of the feature.  Jo also mentioned a name request to name a mountaintop after a bush pilot.

Alaska – Gary Holton.  Discussed Alaskan native languages and cited one example name: Troth Yeddá (means Indian potato).  Joan Antonson mentioned pronouncing issues and it is also difficult to get coverage of names in today’s smaller newspapers.  She mentioned the longtime naming issue of Denali (Alaska) McKinley (US Board) Ended with the quote: “Every last name in Alaska is political.”

Arizona – Julie Hoff.  Julie mentioned that the Arizona State board is a nine member board with six members appointed by state agencies.   There is some Grand Canyon feature naming work that is being done and one of the topics discussed was a “Name the Peak” contest.

California – Barbara Wanish.  Barbara talked about the California Advisory Board. There are currently five members with a one member change.  About twelve names are being considered.  A couple names that were mentioned were Clem Nelson Peak and Fossil Point. There is also work being done on misidentified features as well.  

Idaho – Dan White. Various names discussed including Carrie Mountain, Mt' mt' o' Imkhw Wetland, Oops Lake, Reno Mountain, South Fork Sheep Creek and Staffel Island.

Missouri – Chris Barnett.  Chris mentioned that Missouri has a 19 member board. About 3 to 4 years ago the board switched to be under secretary of state. There’s been plenty of activity on names of streams.

New Mexico – Pete Martinez.  Pete said that things are fairly quiet, many of the native communities have towns named after saints. Native communities are getting together to rename them after the original community names. He mentioned that the New Mexico board is not an appointed board.

Oklahoma – Wayne Furr.  Wayne discussed topics regarding the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission and the debate on the official spelling of Barren (Baron) Fork Creek. Wayne mentioned that there was no evidence to overturn the name from Baron to Barren. Wayne also mentioned the approval of Bartosh Creek to honor a long time resident and bank employee who helped many residents in the area.  

Oregon – Bruce Fisher.  Bruce mentioned that the Oregon board is composed of 25 members plus advisors. There is work to be done with 170 Squaw names to get though. The state passed 60 replacement names with Native American names. One county even formed its own names board. He also gave an update on the health of Lewis McArthur.

South Dakota – Thomas Gasque.  Tom spoke about the recent work on replacing derogatory names in South Dakota.  He mentioned examples of five Squaw-named featured that have proposed native language names for them. The South Dakota Board of Geographic Names also circulated a notice asking for suggestions to replace five geographic names that contain the word “Negro.”

Utah – Dan White. Spoke about the rash of arch naming by one proponent who proposed names for six or seven arches, all of which the Utah committee did not approve. The Pfeifferhorn Summit was approved. Negro Bill Canyon has gleaned plenty of media attention.  Discussed new member of the Utah Board: Kate Staley of SITLA, and lost some members including Janet Packham and Scott Christensen. Also noted was that Jay Haymond, who originated the Utah Committee and the Western States Geographic Names Council, passed away.  

Virginia – Cassandra Farrell.   Cassandra noted that there are four creeks that have name proposals and four island names are in the works in Fairfax County.

Wyoming – Dan White. Proposed new name that was passed: Ten Trees. Three proposed names were mentioned: Yount Moutain (was Yaunt), Prodigy Hill and Chris La Doux Point.  Also discussed were board changed. Due to the lack of new proposals, it was decided to meet only twice a year, November and May on the third Thursday of each. 

Business Meeting

Minneapolis/St. Paul Hilton

Bloomington, MN

4/30/2013


Meeting called to order at 3:05pm. COGNA 2013 Host Pete Boulay welcomed attendees to Minnesota.  It was decided to table New Business regarding the Constitution and Bylaws, due to number of attendees.

Roll Call

Pete Boulay - MN
Pete Martinez -NM
Dan White –UT
Barbara Wanish –CA
Wayne Furr – OK
Betsy Kanalley – FS-DNC
Glen Yakel Retired MN
Bruce Fisher USGS -OR
Julie Hoff AZ
____________________


1. Old Business
 
a.  Motion to approve minutes of 2011 Business Meeting: Pete Boulay, seconded by Barbara Wanish
Ayes- all

b. Executive Secretary’s 2011 Conference and Annual Report

Wayne discussed COGNA 2011 in Hawaii and mentioned logistics. The conference came close to cancelling at one point. However people had already registered so the conference went as planned. There were 48 attendees, down from the average of 67. Wayne mentioned that the talks were top notch and the conference was very successful.  One common issue was hearing comments relayed from management of various agencies, ex: “we won’t let anyone go to Hawaii.”  Overall it was a good conference with a lot of planning.

Motion to approve the COGNA 2011 report by Barbara Wanish, seconded by Bruce Fisher.

c. Financial Report for 2012.

Wayne discussed the financial report and summed it up by mentioning: “We still have money in the bank.” The recent purchase of AV equipment was discussed. This was done to avoid rental costs in the future. In effect it was cheaper to purchase the equipment than it was to rent it. (Note the projector and the computer used for COGNA 2013 were on loan from State of Minnesota-Department of Natural Resources)

2. Future Conference/Conformation and Election of Officers.

a. Economy

Wayne Furr: Economy continuing to impact COGNA Conferences with 1/3 of the attendees missing from COGNA 2013 due to the Sequester.

b. Deadlines

Wayne Furr found it difficult to get people to sign up for the banquet in a timely manner.

c. Registration

Wayne Furr mentioned that the PayPal system had some issues from those using state credit cards that would not work with the service.

d. Timing of the Conference

Dsicussion about the best time of the year for COGNA. Was a fall conference and switched to spring in 2011.   Spring was chosen because it seemed to be the best timeframe for the Federal Fiscal year in the past. Pete Boulay mentioned that this year was an exception due to the events that unfolded.  Other spring conferences were mentioned that wound up being cancelled due to the Sequester.

3. Presentation for Austin, TX: Claire DeVaughan

Wayne presented for Claire DeVaughan in regards for GOGNA 2014 in Austin at the Holiday Inn Town Lake (Lady Bird Lake) in Austin, Texas from April 29-May 4, 2014.

Dan White made the motion for Claire DeVaughan to be Conference Coordinator, Pete Martinez seconded.  Note that Richard Wade is the Chairman of the committee host.

Wayne noted that COGNA has until August 1 to cancel with no conditions.

-Ayes all.

Discussion then turned to the 2015 conference with Montana as a possible location. Dan White cautioned that it could be expensive to travel to Montana. Pete Boulay posed the question regarding which COGNA was attended the most. After some discussion, St. Louis, MO in 2000 had about 103 to 108 attendees, with Springfield MO in 2010 with about 70 attendees.  

4. Election of At. Large Member (Tabled) Reason: No quorum to vote on topic.

-Ethics committee- Federal Government can’t vote on structure- can confer on names issues.  Finances of COGNA since 2007 are controlled by the Executive Secretary.
 
-Discussion about renaming the conference as a training conference to more reflect what it is and to perhaps help attendees receive permission to attend.

-Discussion then ensued about what topics to keep and drop from future conferences. It was decided that Academic Talks were useful and add to the conferences. Perhaps adding a workshop on ESRI or having Google present would be beneficial in the future.

-Wayne Furr added that he is planning to continue to be the Executive Secretary for COGNA past Austin in 2014.

Dan White made the motion to adjourn the meeting, Pete Boulay seconded that motion.

Ayes-All

End of Business Meeting.
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Conference Opening Reception

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Doug Fisher & Wayne Furr

WEDNESDAY, May 1

7:30 – 9:30  Registration  Continental Breakfast

10:00 –Tour of the Nature Center


THURSDAY, May 2

7:30 – 9:30  Continental Breakfast

8:00 – 8:15  Opening Remarks & Housekeeping - Pete Boulay

8:15 – 9:30  State Names Authorities’ Reports - Wayne Furr



10:30 – 3:00  State-Federal Roundtable - Glen Yakel, Moderator
The State/Federal Roundtable should be considered one of the most important session of the conference.  Topics are often linked to the Principles, Policies, and Procedures but consideration should be much broader with subjects for GNIS and other matters of applied toponymy that delegates and attendees would deem of interest and useful.

3:30 – 4:00  Advancing Native Place Names in Alaska
Gary Holton, Lawrence Kaplan, and James Kari
Alaska Native Language Center

Recently there has been a surge in public interest in native-origin place names in Alaska.  These names attest to the rich heritage of native languages and cultures in the state.  Several recent and pending proposals suggest native names locations which otherwise lack an official name.  Native names have also been proposed as replacements for derogatory names, such as the 2012 proposal to replace Negrohead Creek with the Athabascan name Lochenyatth Creek.

In addition to these there are a wealth of official names, carefully documented by Orth (1967), which are clearly of Native origin but are improperly spelled.  These could benefit greatly by having the Native name included as a variant and displayed on maps in parentheses next to the official name.  For example, Talkeetna (K’dalkitnu), could be rendered easily since K’dalkitnu is the sole variant name for this name in GNIS.  In other cases this approach would be more difficult.  GNIS list 47 variant names for Mt. McKinley, 33 of which appear to be of Native origin, but there is no easy way to determine that Deenaalee is the correct spelling of the Kayukon Athabascan name from which the common name Denali derives.  Another situation we find on occasion is a Native-language place name that has been inadvertently assigned to the wrong feature.

Since its founding by state legislation in 1972 the Alaska Native Language Center has worked to develop standardized writing systems for all twenty Native languages in the state, while also compiling place name lists.  In this presentation we suggest ways that ANLC could collaborate on Alaskan GNIS entries t make them (a) more effective for public use; and (b) more accurately mirror authentic the native language place names.

4:00 – 4:30  
The GNBC at 116 – Building on the past to take on the challenges and opportunities of the future
Heather Ross
Geographical Names Board of Canada (GNBC) Secretariat, Natural Resources Canada.

In 1897, Canada established the Geographic Board of Canada.  The government recognized the need for an authority to address standardization, recording, and dissemination of the geographical names in Canada.  During the ensuing 116 years, the work of the Board has continued through administrative, social, and technological change, and even through war.  Although its name has changed several times, and its mandate has evolved to meet the changing needs of its members and the country, its core values remain the same.   

Over time, responsibility for naming has devolved from the federal authority to the provinces and territories, and most recently to Aboriginal groups who have been granted self-government under land claim settlements.  The national Board serves as a coordinating body. 

Technological change has played a major role in the work of the GNBC.  Names storage and retrieval has gone from banks of index cards and paper maps and files to data bases, spatial data warehouses, and online mapping tools and applications.  The first national names data base was established in 1978.  Currently, the national data base of names data is updated continuously, and is linked to a warehouse of delineations, and an online query tool. 

In 2013, the Board’s working groups are dealing with some of the most important issues it faces:  Aboriginal Toponymy, Feature Identifiers, Delineation, Undersea and Maritime Feature Naming, and Cultural Generics.  The focus is, and will remain, standard and geographical authoritative names, and the cultural, historical and social importance of toponymy for Canada and its citizens.


4:30 – 5:00  Foreign Language Influence & Allonymy: A Case of some Topoynms of Southern Ghana
Yaw Sekyi-Baidoo

Foreign occupation and influence from 15th century through colonialism and independence have had a profound effect on names in Ghana and many such countries. Owusu-Ansah and Akrofi (1994), Agyekum (2006) and Sekyi-Baidoo (forthcoming) have discussed these influences on anthroponyms in Ghana. In addition to the anthroponyms,  toponyms seem to have had a great deal of influence from the foreign languages with whom the peoples came into contact. 

The paper discusses the influence of foreign languages on toponyms in the southern part of Ghana through the influence of European traders and colonialists between the 15th and 19th centuries from the perspectives of the postcolonialist theory.  It examines various forms of foreign language influence including corrupted variants, the creation of new toponyms usually by foreigners with topographic and mercantile considerations, the addition of topographic descriptions to existing names, and the co-existence of earlier and latter renditions of the same name.

In addition to the lexical analysis, the study also undertakes a phonological analysis as a way of explaining the relationship between the original and the allonyms, and between original lexical manifestations and current renditions of the name, drawing attention to the nature of the change  and the responsibility for these changes. 

Finally, the paper discusses the situation of allonymy in the synchronic use of these names. It draws attention to such factors as nature of association, field and tenor of discourse among other factors, making the allonyms only referentially synonymous.



FRIDAY, May 3

7:30 – 9:30  Continental Breakfast

8:00 – 9:30  U.S. Forest Service Representatives Session - Dan White, Moderator

10:30 – 11:00  Place Name Dictionaries in the U.S.
Tom Gasque

     Most U.S. states have some sort of place name dictionary.  Many of them are decades old, and the quality varies greatly.  Among the oldest--and the best--are those from Oregon (1928, etc.) and Minnesota (1920, etc.), both of which have been revised in recent years.  The coverage also varies.  Some include only towns and cities, and others attempt to include all features, or at least the larger and more significant features, such as mountains, rivers, and larger creeks.  The arrangement of material also varies.  Probably the best plan is alphabetical by the specific element of the name, as in the Oregon book.  Others have a county-by county structure, as in Minnesota.  Some are arranged by feature type, as in South Dakota, and at least one is not a dictionary but a narrative history explaining the names in various contexts, as in Kansas.  In all cases except the first, an alphabetical index is essential but not always present.  Another feature that varies widely is the documentation, the authority for the information about the names.  Some books document each entry; others--less usefully--provide a general list of sources.  The focus in this presentation s on the usefulness (or lack of it) of these books for the applied toponymist.  Because we in are in Minnesota for this meeting, special attention is given to Minnesota Geographic Names (1920, rev. 1979; rev. as Minnesota Place Names in 2001).

11:00 – 11:30  How the Virginia Board on Geographic Names handles place name requests with a small board

Cassandra Farrell
Map Specialist and Senior Reference Archivist
Library of Virginia

 
This paper explores how the Virginia Board on Geographic Names handles place name requests with a small board.  The Virginia Board, which consists of 2 to 3 people at any given time, is currently made up of the Virginia State Archivist and the Map Specialist and Senior Reference Archivist at the Library of Virginia.  In the past two years we have received several requests for place names from residents who live in rural localities to city dwellers living on the Virginia coast.  This small board routinely conducts in-depth historical research when working on a name proposal and looks not only at maps, but other records like land and tax records when making a decision. We also consult with local officials, community leaders, and stakeholders in the decision-making process to determine their views on the proposed names.

11:30 – 12:00  Diversity and Distribution of Wetland Toponymic Generics in the United States
J
anet Gritzner, South Dakota State University

    For most observers swamps, marshes, and other wetland features are defined by the supported vegetation and persistence of wet conditions. Whereas there are hundreds of thousands of wetlands in the US, few are named and are recorded in the GNIS database. This research looks at the toponymic generics of the swamp category of features in the GNIS. Why are some wetland features named and others are not? Is it size, commonality, impermanence, cultural attitudes, or geography?  What generics are applied? Mapping "swamp" generics reveals fascinating patterns of distribution - some tied to physical characteristics and others to regional and local naming practices. Most common, clearly "swamp" generics are swamp, marsh, bog, meadow, brake, and slough. Examples of less familiar, highly localized generics include vly, heath, pocosin, cienega, sog, baygall, and suck.

1:30 – 2:00  Board on Geographic Names and NHD Stewardship Coordination in Missouri
Anna Nowack

The main objective for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MoDNR) becoming the NHD steward in 2011 was to have better reporting capabilities with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to meet requirements of the Clean Water Act (CWA).  This process discovered many discrepancies between the MoDNR’s in-house data, the NHD, and the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).  Many of these discrepancies were brought to the attention of U.S. Geological Survey GNIS staff.  Many of the discrepancies involved multiple names of reservoirs listed by the MoDNR – Dam Safety, Army Corps of Engineers (ACE), or other state agencies such as the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC).  A meeting was held in May 2011 to decipher what the issues were and the best approach for solving the discrepancies:

Majority of ACE entries included reservoirs the ACE did not regulate or own but reported from other agencies (such as MoDNR and MDC) to USGS for inclusion in GNIS
GNIS staff review ACE entries to determine the official name according to ownership and U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN) protocol, then make administrative changes as appropriate or refer any changes needing ruling
Changes conducted are reported to a NHD staff in Denver for integration into the NHD. Upon syncing with the NHD, MoDNR updates in-house datasets
ACE and MDC entries causing discrepancies – the MDC published name is the official name unless BGN rules are not followed.  Then a BGN ruling is needed to determine the official name.

This process will ensure all reports produced by the MoDNR will have the most accurate information according to national and state standards.

2:00 – 2:30  Pseudo-French and French Place Names in Minnesota
Andre Lapierre

In his book La toponymie française aux États-Unis, published in 2000, J. Montbarbut lists some 450 place names of French origin in Minnesota. A closer examination shows that the actual number may be less important due to several factors. This paper discusses the differences between cultural and linguistic legacy, the role of translation and homography as well as other issues that combine to determine what constitutes a place name of French origin in geographical nomenclature.

2:30 – 3:00  The Name Itasca - Pete Boulay

3:30 – 4:00  Generics in Place Names - Janet Gritzner

4:00 – 4:30  Spanish Place Names in the Upper Midwest - Tom Gasque

4:30 – 4:45  Invitation to the COGNA 2014 conference  - Wayne Furr for Claire DeVaughan

4:45 – 5:00  Wrap-up
  - Pete Boulay & Wayne Furr

6:00 – 9:00  Banquet with Geographic Names Presentation by Dr. Mark Seeley


SATURDAY, May 4

8:00 – 5:30  Educational Toponymic Tour – A Look at Geographic Names in the Twin Cities and Surrounding Area - Pete Boulay


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Welcome to Minnesota in May

Mill City Museum and Park

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Minnehaha Falls