The Rules For Naming Mountains In The Bow Valley Are Surprisingly Specific

You’re out for a hike in the Bow Valley. Out of nowhere, tall jagged rocks have broken through the ground and somehow, you’re the only one in the world to have noticed. 

Congratulations, a new mountain has magically appeared and you’ll be credited with its discovery, but how do you make it official?

After you’ve checked your pulse, the first thing you’ll want to do is claim the mysterious summit, but it won’t be easy trying to lock in a name. 

According to the Government of Alberta, naming it after yourself might not be an option.

Neither is selling those naming rights, raffling them off or auctioning them to the highest bidder.

As it turns out, the province has some pretty specific rules governing what we call the mountains, lakes, rivers and other geographical features around us.

And the process starts surprisingly close to home.

Locals Come First

Most proposals for new geographical names come from the public.

In fact, Alberta has deliberately taken a “reactive, rather than proactive” approach to naming since the 1970s, believing that geographical names belong to Albertans and proposals should come from them rather than being imposed by government.

A proposal is one of many steps. 

First consideration goes to names already “well established and in current local use.” If there isn't one, historical names get priority. If neither exists, a name describing the feature itself can be considered - the province gives Long Lake and The Big Rock as examples.

Naming something after a person is harder.

Natural geographical features aren't named after living people. For commemorative names, at least five years generally need to have passed since the person's death, and there are requirements around their contribution, public recognition and local support.

And no matter how badly you want Mount [Your Last Name], you can't simply pay for it.

“A geographical name, or the right to name a geographical feature, cannot be bought or sold, raffled or otherwise conferred through contest or auction,” The Government explains in their Geographical Names manual.

Time to hit the Books

Once a name is proposed, Alberta does its homework.

Researchers can consult government databases, modern and historical maps, railway timetables, post office listings and archival records.They can also interview people.

Residents, historians, guides, trappers, hikers and mountaineers are among those who may be consulted to establish what a feature is called locally and where that name came from.

“The best respondents are those who have lived or currently live in close proximity to the actual feature,” it says in the manual.

Even appearing on Google Maps doesn't necessarily count.

Alberta specifically notes that Google, Bing and Apple frequently display unofficial place names and says that doing so “does not grant legitimacy to those names.”

For features under provincial jurisdiction, the minister ultimately makes the naming decision. Features inside national parks are different: official names and name changes require approval from both Alberta and the relevant federal authority, such as Parks Canada.

No Tunnel, No Problem

Tunnel Mountain is perhaps the perfect example of how strange naming history can be.

For starters, there is no tunnel.

According to the Town of Banff, Canadian Pacific Railway surveyors considered tunnelling through the mountain in the 1880s. The tunnel was never built, but the name stuck.

That, however, is only one chapter of the mountain's history.

Indigenous Peoples have inhabited the area in and around present-day Banff for more than 10,000 years, according to the Town. To the Stoney Nakoda, the mountain has long been understood as a sleeping buffalo and is called Eyarhey Tatanga Woweyahgey Wakân. The Town also records the Blackfoot name Iinii Istako.

In 2016, 15 First Nations signed a resolution calling for an official process to rename Tunnel Mountain Sacred Buffalo Guardian Mountain, followed by a naming ceremony the next year.

Alberta's current rules specifically allow Indigenous names to be considered and even allow more than one official name for the same feature.

You Might Be Saying Yamnuska Wrong

Need another example? We don’t even need to leave the Bow Valley.

Alberta's own manual points to Mount Laurie (Îyâmnathka).

Mount Laurie was officially named in 1961 for John Lee Laurie, but the mountain had long been known, particularly by the Stoney Nakoda, as Îyâmnathka, meaning “flat-surfaced rock or mountain.”

The traditional name was officially recognized alongside Mount Laurie in 1984.

And here's the fun part: Alberta's manual says Îyâmnathka is “popularly, but incorrectly pronounced as ‘Yamnuska.’”

It is a small detail that gets at the bigger story.

The name printed on a map isn't necessarily the first name a mountain had. Sometimes there are several, carrying different pieces of the people and history connected to that landscape.

As Alberta's manual puts it, geographical naming is a “public trust, carried out for the benefit of present and future generations.”

And around here, even a mountain you've looked at a thousand times might have a naming story you haven't heard.