"Barrow, Alaska" to become "Utqiagvik, Alaska.."

   / "Barrow, Alaska" to become "Utqiagvik, Alaska.." #1  
bcp

bcp

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"Barrow" to be changed to "Utqiagvik."

From:
Barrow voters support name change to 'Utqiagvik' - Alaska Dispatch News

Voters have set in motion the process of changing the name of the northernmost community in Alaska from the English "Barrow" back to the Inupiaq "Utqiagvik."

"It reclaims our beautiful Inupiaq language," said Mayor Bob Harcharek.





Anyone here had their town name changed?

Bruce
 
   / "Barrow, Alaska" to become "Utqiagvik, Alaska.." #2  
Yes, but not within my lifetime. "Berlin" Ontario, Canada, was changed to "Kitchener" during the First World War... To this day, Kitchener has the second largest Oktoberfest in the world (after Munich, of course).

A similar thing happened here in Aus during WWI; "Germantown" NSW was changed to "Holbrook", after the Captain of a RAN submarine that got through the Dardanelles prior to the Gallipoli Campaign.

Mind you, Australia already uses a plethora of native names for places... most of which seem to mean "Meeting Place" in whichever local dialect was used. :)
 
   / "Barrow, Alaska" to become "Utqiagvik, Alaska.." #3  
Little town known as Mole Hill changed it's name to Mountain. They actually made a Mountain out of a Mole Hill.

True story, happened about 20 years ago, remember my mom getting a good laugh out of it, as she drove thru that area often.

Edit: A quick search yielded this info, my timeline was off, but I do remember mom talking about it.

Turning a Mole Hill Into a Mountain
 
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   / "Barrow, Alaska" to become "Utqiagvik, Alaska.." #4  
   / "Barrow, Alaska" to become "Utqiagvik, Alaska.." #8  
Long ago but 'Hangtown' in California's goldrush region is now the more respectable 'Placerville'.


But 80 miles west of there 'Vacaville' (cow-ville in the original Spanish) is still Vacaville.
 
   / "Barrow, Alaska" to become "Utqiagvik, Alaska.." #10  
That is normal for Alaska as they have been trying to go back to all original names since the federal government returned most of the land back to the local tribes in the early 80's. All the good fishing areas went from free to over $100.00 a day and most of the best hunting areas went from the cost of getting there to an added $1,000.00 when that happened. Meaning ONLY rich tourist could afford it now.
 
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