Earlier this month, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names—a federal body—approved a plan that would remove the word “Negro” from 16 different place names in the state of Texas. Thousands of cities across the United States still bear racist names, and local officials across Texas are praising the decision to remove the word from these place names. According to Axios, Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis said in a statement:

“This day has been a long time coming, but I am proud to see this change finally happen…I hope that the [U.S. Board on Geographic Names] will build on the progress made today in Texas, and work with other groups across the country to ensure that all racially offensive names are erased from the public domain.”

Read more at the New York Times.

Earlier this month, university officials announced that Washington and Lee University will keep its name. After calls from students and faculty, university leaders have dismissed a vote in favor of changing the school’s name. The administration also announced millions of funding for scholarships and plans to establish an academic center for the study of race relations in the South. Read more about the decision to preserve its name here.

In a more recent opinion piece in The Washington Post, Colbert I. King articulates what the University really embraces when it says Lee fostered “an exceptional liberal arts and legal education and common experiences and values”, pointing to key speeches and letters that Lee composed prior to and while serving what was Washington College at the time. King writes,

“So happens that at the time, members of my family were undergoing “painful discipline” as “property” of the Colbert and Rixey families of Culpeper, according to Culpeper County courthouse records. Even if my kinfolk had made it to the Washington College campus, I don’t think a fine old time would have been waiting.”

Read King’s column about the implications of the University’s decision here.

Royal names are in the news again after the birth of Lilibet “Lili” Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, daughter of Meghan and Harry. What is the story behind this intriguing praenomen? Jennifer Hassan writes in The Washington Post:

“As a young girl growing up in the royal family, then-Princess Elizabeth found it difficult to pronounce her name, often fumbling it — much to the amusement of her close family members, who soon began calling her “Lilibet,” according to British media. The affectionate moniker has stayed with her throughout her long life.”

Read more about Lilibet in Hassan’s article here.

A recent feature in The Washington Post explores the racist legacy behind the names of many birds. Some of these birds were named after enslavers, supremacists, and grave robbers; this history has led to great debates in birding communities across North America. The article explores many of the people behind the names, including John James Audubon, as his name is eponymous of influential avian advocacy groups, organizations, and even birds themselves. In addition to his detailed drawings of North American birds, Audubon’s legacy includes slave-owning and anti-abolitionist worldview.

Read more of this fascinating article on The Washington Post.

Citing a desire to preserve common heritage and out of respect to the Inuit and Indigenous people of Canada, the Edmonton Eskimos franchise announced that it would rename itself the “Edmonton Elks”.

New Name. Same Game.

Let’s play some football. #ElksCharge pic.twitter.com/RhtwzcAmhv

— Edmonton Elks (@GoElks) June 1, 2021

In USA Today Des Bieler reports:

“This was a process that originally began back in early August of 2020 with an initial discussion around the possibilities,” Presson said in his statement. “Thanks to our wonderful fans and partners across the board for their input, dialogue and debate. Rebranding a team is hard. Rebranding a team with 100 years of history is even more challenging and we worked hard to meld that history with something new and meaningful.”

Edmonton said it went with a plural version of “elk” that uses an “s” after consulting with linguistics experts from the Oxford Dictionary and the University of Alberta. That name proved popular “through all demographic categories,” according to the team.