Federal Actions and Educational Information

Secretarial Orders 3404 and 3405

The Federal Advisory Committee on Reconciliation in Place Names was created by Secretarial Order 3405. Information related to the actions of this committee can be found HERE.

Introduced in November, 2021 - Secretarial Order 3404 (or SO 3404) was enacted "declaring “Squaw” a Derogatory Term and Implementing Procedures to Remove the Term from Federal Usage," and Secretarial Order (or SO3405) was enacted establishing "a Federal Advisory Committee to broadly solicit, review, and recommend changes to other derogatory geographic names."

Please see more Information here: Press Release

Secretarial Order 3404: Link to Document Here

Secretarial Order 3405: Link to Document Here

Secretarial Order 3404 has been concluded - derogatory names under this order chaged/replaced in September, 2022.

List of names changed under S.O. 3404 and their replacements can be found here: Link

Interactive map of sites with offensive names that were managed by the S.O. 3404 Task Force: Link Here

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From the USBGN site:

"For. S.O. 3404, a list of all official feature names that include the word "Sq__", as recorded in the Board on Geographic Names (BGN) Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), is available at: THIS LINK." (See left side of page and click on "All Official SQ Names" link to see list). "Please note that a number of names on this list are outside the purview of the BGN, but are considered official for Federal use."

Connect with the U.S. Board on Geographic Names

Important information on Federal Policies and Procedures, the history of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, links to search features for domestic names and much more information can be found at this link:

US Board on Geographic Names

From the USBGN site: "The U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a Federal body created in 1890 and established in its present form by Public Law in 1947 to maintain uniform geographic name usage throughout the Federal Government. The BGN comprises representatives of Federal agencies concerned with geographic information, population, ecology, and management of public lands."

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Additional Information/Helpful Documents for General Naming Process and Inquiries:

Link to the Principles, Policies, and Procedures for Domestic Geographic Names is

HERE

Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) searchable database is

HERE

BGN Domestic Names Committee Naming Proposal Form is

HERE

Federal Actions and Educational Information

Secretarial Orders 3404 and 3405

Secretarial Order 3404 has been concluded - derogatory names under this order chaged/replaced in September, 2022.

More links:

Connect with the U.S. Board on Geographic Names