FAQ

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A toponym is a place name assigned to a natural feature. One who studies toponyms is a toponymist engaging in the field of onomastics, which is "the science or study of the origins and forms of words especially as used in a specialized field." In a broader sense, toponymists are also onomasticians.

No one knows. A good guess can be formed by examining 1,717-square-mile Hamilton County that comprises 18 percent of the 9,375-square-mile Adirondack Park. Hamilton County possesses 1 toponym with the word "Cliff," 1 with "Hollow," 1 with "Knob," 1 with "Peak," 2 with "Range," 3 with "Marsh," 3 with "Swamp," 4 with "Head," 7 with "Top," 8 with "Flow," 8 with "Mount," 10 with "Ridge," 11 with "Stream," 26 with "River," 43 with "Hill," 44 with "Vly," 61 with "Creek," 142 with "Brook," 219 with "Pond," 221 with "Lake," and 223 with "Mountain" for a total of 1,039 toponyms. Some toponyms probably slipped by this search, but some terms are repeated within one name, such as Alder Brook Vly, Bell Mountain Pond, and State Brook Mountain. Hamilton County has an estimated 1,000 toponyms, which means the Adirondack Mountains have an estimated 5,600.

Though the etymological history of the term Adirondack varies slightly, it's sourced from the Mohawk term "rdttrointdks," an insulting label they gave their mortal enemies, the Algonquins. It meant "those who eat trees," which implied the Algonquins were such lousy hunters they had to resort to eating the inner bark, the cambium layer, of trees to survive. The name Adirondack Mountains was proposed during February 1838 within New York State Assembly Document 200 in which state geologist Ebenezer Emmons wrote, "The cluster of mountains in the neighborhood of the Upper Hudson and Ausable rivers, I propose to call the Adirondack Group."

The High Peaks is a 250-square-mile area that contains the 46 mountains originally thought to rise to at least 4,000 feet elevation. These are the mountains peakbagging brothers Bob and George Marshall and their guide Herb Clark identified and climbed between 1918 and 1925. They were first to reach them all, and nearly 20,000 hikers have now repeated their epic accomplishment. Modern surveying technologies and techniques have demoted four peaks to below the sacred 4,000-foot-level.  These are 3,793-foot Couchsachraga Peak, 3,872-foot Nye Mountain, 3,940-foot Cliff Mountain, and 3,977-foot Blake Peak. The Marshalls' list of 46 mountains hasn't been updated. Modern peakbaggers pursue this list for historical, not geographical, reasons.

Approximately forty percent of toponyms are so obvious that they reveal themselves. When that's not the case, Erik first examines ancient maps to determine when a feature was named and what former names it may have carried. Then the real work begins as he examines old county histories, gazetteers, atlases, and newspapers. Erik also works with town and county historians. If it's determined a feature is named for a person, examination of census, cemetery, and genealogical records takes place. Though there is no fast nor easy way to historically decode obscure toponyms, Erik enjoys a ninety percent solve rate and is often found correcting prior historians' honest mistakes.  

By examining the 224 toponyms within High Peaks Wilderness Area plus the 35 toponyms along the Cranberry Lake Fifty hiking trail (259 toponyms total), the following naming patterns were determined.

3% recall manmade events, improvements, or tragedies (Calamity Brook, Flag Brook, Railroad Notch) ● 4% are named after being little versions of bigger neighbors (Little Ampersand Pond, Little Haystack, Little Pine Pond) ● 5% are named after flora (Blueberry Mountain, Gooseberry Mountain, Pin Cherry Ridge) ● 5% are supposed Indian words or employ the word itself (Couchsachraga Peak, Indian Falls, Ouluska Pass) ● 10% are named after fauna (Bear Brook, Ermine Brook, Pickerel Pond) ● 34% are named for people (Cheney Cobble, Mount Marcy, TR Mountain) ● 39% are named after physical appearances, geographical locations, or other characteristics (Boulder Brook, Corner Pond, Sawtooth Mountains). 

To change a toponym is to change history, and there are few things more offensive than that. The main issue is that those who demand changes are uneducated in onomastics and history. 

An example of an unfairly targeted toponym is Squaw, which some believe is a disparaging term for Indian women. It means "young woman." Another is Cripple, which some believe has to do with people with disabilities. It describes rugged terrain. Another is Papoose, which some feel "makes a baby an object." It means "very young child." Another is Wappinger, which a New York State employee demanded be removed because the first syllable reminded him of an obsolete derogatory term for Italians. It honors the Wappinger Indians. Another is Kill, which a group demanded be removed because it "suggests cruelty." It's Dutch for "stream." Another is Chink, which some thought was the derogatory term for Chinese people. It's a corruption of the Indian word chinqua that means "great." The Town of Black Brook's hamlet of Swastika has been targeted. Use of this word and symbol predate rise of the Nazi's National Socialist German Workers' Party by thousands of years, while the place name predates World War II by a hundred. It's used in the traditional sense of wishing others health, peace, and prosperity.

The toponym Negro deserves special attention since its history is still innocently misunderstood or willfully misrepresented due to cultural bias. The best place to start is at the beginning. When the earliest United States Geological Survey topographic maps were published during the late 1800s and early 1900s, some features carried the Negro toponym or the "N-word" toponym because these terms were culturally acceptable during that era. In 1963, then-secretary of the interior Stewart Udall determined all N-word toponyms should be changed to Negro toponyms because Negro had superseded the N-word in cultural acceptance. Modern critics unfamiliar with this history are calling Negro toponyms, which still exists on many maps, "racist." Thus they are calling the people who coined and mapped such features "racists." To be racist is to conclude "racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race" and to engage in illegal or unreasonable discrimination. Labeling someone a racist is an exceedingly serious charge. Yet it is being tossed around casually despite no evidence of racism being presented. Despite Place Name Dude decoding more than 1,500 toponyms, one of malicious design has never been discovered. Certain terms become more or less culturally acceptable as years go by, but that doesn't make such terms racist and the people who lived among them racists.  

One must be vigilant when examining supposed Indian names. For four reasons. First, many such reported names have been proven creations of daydreaming visitors of European descent. The best example centers on the highest peak in New York, 5,344-foot Mount Marcy. It has been reported that Indians named this mountain Tahawus, meaning "cloud splitter," before it was first climbed and named in 1837. The name Tahawus was the invention of New York Mirror editor Charles Hoffman, who liked to sentimentalize his tales with fictitious aboriginal terms.  

Second, many translations of supposed Indian names are suspiciously complex and dreamy, especially considering Indians of the Northeast had no written languages. Like all inhabitants of the wilderness, Indians were practical people who coined practical names. Names that reportedly translate to "Place of the Stonish Giants Where the Storm Clouds Meet in Battle With the Great Serpent" are unbelievable. Massawepie, meaning "Lake by the Marsh," and Aka-Se-We':Ka-Tsi, meaning "Black Water," are entirely believable, especially since these names accurately describe the features they were assigned to, Massawepie Lake (which is a lake by a marsh) and the Black River (which has dark water). 

Third, Indians never lived in the mountains. They lived along major waterways, those highways of centuries gone by that still ring the Adirondacks. That's where legitimate Indian names are found. Their corridors included the Great Lakes, Lake Champlain, the Hudson River, the Mohawk River, and the St. Lawrence River. During warmer months they followed waterways and footpaths through the mountains to hunt and trap and to get from some place better than the Adirondacks to another place better than the Adirondacks. Maps never identified Indian villages in the Adirondacks. Explorers of the 1500s and 1600s were never told of such villages. French Jesuit captives of the 1600s were never led to such villages. Surveyors of the 1600s, 1700s, and 1800s never mapped such villages. Men who participated in six North American wars beginning 1688 and ending 1814 never mentioned such villages. Those who engage in cultural favoritism wax poetically, asking, "What does 'lived' mean, exactly?" We all know what it means. It is a question no different from, "What does 'dead' mean, exactly?"

Fourth, the greatest threat to research and writing is bias. As the great economist and historian Thomas Sowell observed, "When people get used to preferential treatment, equal treatment seems like discrimination." History is a bloody sport best played objectively. While other researchers tend to posit conclusions first and then work their way backwards to prove them true, Place Name Dude examines the best evidence and reaches historical conclusions free of cultural favoritism.

Anyone can contact the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to propose a new toponym, suggest a replacement toponym, or point out a misspelled or misplaced toponym by submitting its Domestic Geographic Name Proposal Form. Submissions are examined by Domestic Names Committee members, who take between six months and three years to make a decision. There are three guidelines. One, there must be "compelling reason and evidence" to prove that a current name needs to be changed, and "historical usage is not in and of itself a reason to change a name." Two, proposed names mustn't be "derogatory," intend to honor a living person, intend to honor a person who died within five years, be located in a federal wilderness area, be located on Tribal Trust land (unless submitted by a federally recognized tribe), or "connected to a commercial product or enterprise." Three, no feature can become unnamed, but its name can be changed.

The interactive Adirondack Onomastic Experience (AOE) map highlights Place Name Dude's fifty favorites. The toponym is great or the naming story is great, but it's typically both.

Yes. Here's a guide to commonly mispronounced toponyms.

Adjidaumo "ad-jee-DAW-moe" ● Ausable "awe-SAY-bull" ● Beede "BEED-ee" ● Boquet "boe-KETT" ● Bulwagga "bull-WOGG-uh" ● Caroga "kuh-ROE-guh" ● Cayadutta "kie-yuh-DUTT-uh" ● Chateaugay "SHAT-uh-gay" ● Chatiemac "CHAT-uh-mack" ● Chazy "shay-ZEE" ● Couchsachraga "KOOK-suh-krah-guh" ● Crotched "CROTCH-id" ● Dannemora "dan-uh-MORE-uh" ● Eyrie "EAR-ee" ● Forked "FORK-id" ● Frie "fry" ● Gagnon "gonn-YAY" ● Hough "huff" ● Irondequoit "i-RON-duh-kwot" ● Jogues "zhog" ● Kayaderosseras "kay-uh-duh-ROSS-err-oss" ● Kennyetto "kenn-YET-oh" ● Kiwassa "kuh-WASS-uh" ● Kushaqua "kuh-SHOCK-wuh" ● Ligonier "lih-GUH-neer" ● Loch "lock" ● Luzerne "luh-ZERN" ● Macomb "muh-COMB" ● Makomis "muh-KOE-miss" ● Massawepie "mass-uh-WEE-pee" ● Meacham "MEECH-um" ● Moxham "MOXX-um" ● Ochre "OH-kerr" ● Oseetah "oh-SEET-uh" ● Oswegatchie "oss-wuh-GOTCH-ee" ● Peaked "PEEK-id" ● Pico "PIKE-oh" ● Pokamoonshine "poke-uh-MOON-shine"  ●  Raquette "RACK-it" ● Sabattis "suh-BAT-iss" ● Santanoni "san-tuh-NOE-nee" ●  Saranac "SARE-uh-nack" ● Schroon "skroon"● Schuyler "SKY-lurr" ● Shattuck "SHATT-ick" ● Skagerack "SHAG-er-ack" ● Tirrell "TARE-ull" ● Trembleau "trem-BLOW" ● Trombley "trom-BLEE" ● Valcour "val-CORE" ● Wakely "WAKE-lee"