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Abstract Given how important lakes are to people, it might seem safe to assume that careful thought has been put into the naming of lakes, and that lake names reflect the high societal value people place on lakes. We examined these assumptions by analyzing the official names in the U.S. Geographic Names Information System for the 479,950 lakes ≥ 1 ha in the conterminous U.S. We found that 83% of lakes were unnamed and most of these were small lakes with 80% of unnamed lakes being smaller than 4 ha. Based on the 83,115 named lakes, we found that lake names reflect peoples' everyday lives, that lakes can inspire creativity (although the most common lake name is “Mud”), that Native American and indigenous languages have played a role in lake naming, and that there are regional differences in lake names. Unfortunately, we also found that derogatory terms were part of some lake names. We advocate for thoughtful and inclusive official naming of the 400,000 unnamed lakes in the U.S., as well as renaming of the lakes with derogatory terms to help focus attention on the importance of lakes to local communities and nations.
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This content will become publicly available on September 1, 2026
Plants as partners: honoring the personhood of Manoomin in research, restoration, and education
Across the Great Lakes region, Manoomin (wild rice) provides sustenance for Indigenous Peoples, yet has been in decline since the onset of Euro-American colonization. The Anishinaabe (a large group of Indigenous peoples, Great Lakes, North America) collaborate with Manoomin, university scientists, and others to inform research, restoration, and education to protect this sacred relative. We engaged Anishinaabe Ecological Knowledge to conceptualize these interspecies collaborations through an Ojibwe (an Anishinaabe people) Medicine Wheel: four foundational directions that begin in the east where the sun rises and moving-clockwise around the circle—Anishinaabeg (original people), Gidinawemaaganimin (all our relations), Aki (earth, land, and ground), and Manoomin—each with a role in Manoomin’s Mino-bimaadiziwin (wild rice’s good life). The Manoomin Medicine Wheel framework serves as a guiding example of how Indigenous worldviews can offer pathways for repairing our relationships with our relatives by partnering with plants in the face of climate change and biocultural loss.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2009258
- PAR ID:
- 10654063
- Publisher / Repository:
- Sage
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples
- Volume:
- 21
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 1177-1801
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 566 to 577
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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