What's in a Place Name?

There has been quite a bit of flack regarding the name of Rick Perry's family's hunting ranch in Texas. The inappropriate name was said to have been changed by Perry's father. But this brings up the question of how inappropriate place names get changed. In the United States, the Board on Geographic Names approves place names for towns, streams, mountains, etc. The Board does not make its own changes but relies on local communities to make name change requests. The Board has worked with many entities over the past few decades to remove offensive names from the map but many still remain.

For example, two proposed name changes have recently come before the Board to change derogatory names to more innocuous names. First, there exists the proposal to change the name of Negro Creek in Nevada County, California to Butterfly Creek. Second is the proposal to change the name of Jew Pond in the Town of Mont Vernon, New Hampshire to Frog Pond. Read this article about the Board on Geographic Names to learn more. Additionally, an article titled, "Is it wrong to have a Negro Creek?" by Benjamin Lukoff profiles one example of place name changes.