Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-02-21
FIFTEEN men WHO name
THE GEOGRAPHIC FEATURES

half dozen names proposed !. by part
les interested in q particular place.
What is considered the most appro-
!, pirate. therefore. becomes the au-
thority
The board has adopted the plan Of
naming places suggested BY the local
peculiarities takeE from the topo-
graphic or physical formation. the
vegetation or animal life. Thus. what
are known as the Hedges are straits
connecting Tangier sound with Ches-
/, apeake bay. Formerly they were
misspelled, and were known as Ca
gis: later they became the Hedge,
but the board has decided that there
!, being more than one strait, they
should be called the Hedges.
j Sometimes history viii use its in
iuence In restoring the original name
of a place. Out on the coast OF
Washington, Cape Disappointment
| received that name in ITS because
, Of a disappointment in the depth OF
water within its protecting arm. 1t
! became later known as Cape Han
cock and then as Cape San Rogue,
but the board finally said that it
/, should be callad Cape Disappoint-
ment
In the matter of personal names the
board has placed strict ban on the
naming for relationship. friendship or
personal interest merely, a condition
/ which is seen so often in the rural
districts, especially in the south. But
| II has adopted the policy Of bestowing
! the names of eminent dead men who
| were either explorers, naturalists,
lgeologists, topographers. or living
men of great eminence. Clumsily
constructed names are frowned upon
very decidedly, as well as those
! names which have been repeated so
often by our early hunters and from.
tiersmen,s such as Elk. Beaver. Cot
tonwood and Bald They have all
been repeated many times in the
United States.
Wherever it is possible the board
retains the original names which have
come from our early Spanish and
| French settlers or from the Indians,
provided they are euphonious and
suitable. There are some cases in
which there has been attempted a
local transliteration of the Indian
Eames. The board has found that this
| is extremely difficult, for in every
case there were no two persons who
could render the obscure sounds of
| the Indian names into the same Eng
| lish characters and the board has
found it necessary to. decide upon
some one naE1e.
The general rules by which the
hoard aonerafes. though they are not
strictiS b{rding are to avoid the pos
ssss;va form If names to drop the
fsraI ..b,, in bnren ia abbreyiate DO.
roucb 10 horo. 10 smell center. not
centre: to discontinue the use of n.y.
phens and condense double names in
1 TO oney suchsias LafayeftA and Edo.
RADIO; to use no foreign characters and
to drop the word city or town in con-
nection with a name.
One of the hardest tasks which the
board has been called upon to tackle
is the settling OF disputes over sew
eral hundred names in Alaska.
Names in Alaska originated from the
Russians, Japanese and Indians. and
in some cases are an almost incom-
urehensible tumble. When the task
was first begun the hopeless condi-I
ton of some of the names as they ap-I
peared in various publications show
cd that each editor had apparently
used his own spelling. Worse than
this. there were but few. of the names
that could be found to be used with
similar spelling so that It was seen
that nothing short OF a complete RI
vision could accomplish the task.
This was partially completed IN 1901
ar,i published as the Geographical
Dictionary Of Alaska. The work is
stin being revised.
r,,,ar, &c h;ts 80 bisforv connected
,,;s,. u, :, .,,a,,is;e,, ~ thase Alaskan