Does Mt. Rainier need a better name?
There was some interesting response to my Salish Sea story. Douglas Todd, who writes enviably on “religion, morality, politics, sex, death, God, love, meaning and all things that matter” for the Vancouver Sun, pointed out that he has recently raised the issue of renaming British Columbia. There are some who apparently think it’s a bit too colonial and makes the province sound like a kind of banana republic. Naturally, the idea has sparked controversy. Some bristle at the idea of political correctness; others have proposed new names ranging from Hong Delhi and Canasia to North Cascadia, Bongland and Pacifica. Taking the British out of the Northwest is not a new idea on the American side of the border and goes to a question raised by a commenter who wonders about reviving the effort to rename Mount Rainier. According to James W. Phillips in Washington State Place Names, the first white to sight the mountain was Captain George Vancouver in 1792. He named it for the highly regarded British
