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Help[Facts] Denali
I need help finding out about a name. It's Denali. There's a girl at my school with this name, whom I don't know; Denali Hussin. Can someone tell me the meaning and origin of this name, or would she be named after Mt. McKinley?
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Replies
Denali is the Athabascan name for Mt. McKinley, meaning "the high one". Though it has been used for both boys and girls, my figures show that it is more common for girls. It is a modern "nature name" and this girl was undoubtedly name after the mountain, or after the national park that surrounds it:
http://www.nps.gov/dena/
http://www.nps.gov/dena/
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Denali is not really Mt. McKinley. I live in Alaska, and I do know that the name is definately a place name, but other than that I am not sure if it really has any history or origin.
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Mount McKinley is also commonly known as Denali, which means "the great one" in the Dena'ina language, and which is also the official name currently recognized by the State of Alaska. In 1897 the Mountain was officially named Mount McKinley, after the popular U.S. president William McKinley. As the decades progressed Indian-rights activists began increasingly to view this renaming as colonial and disrespectful. Denali is also the name preferred by the mountaineering community.
When Denali National Park and Preserve was established by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, December 2, 1980, the Alaska Board of Geographic Names changed the name of the mountain back to "Denali." However, the U.S. Board of Geographic Names maintains "McKinley". Alaskans tend to use "Denali" and rely on context to distinguish between the park and the mountain. There have been several campaigns to officially switch the federally recognized name of the mountain back to "Denali". However, the name "McKinley" is well-known and has support as well. The name "McKinley" also allows visitors to differentiate between the mountain and the actual Denali National Park in which the mountain is located. In particular, at the first session of each Congress, Ralph Regula, the congressman from President McKinley's district, introduces legislation "to provide for the retention of the name of Mount McKinley," which effectively blocks any effort at a name change.
That's from Wikipedia.org
Britney Tamber
*DH: Adam Jeffrey*
When Denali National Park and Preserve was established by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, December 2, 1980, the Alaska Board of Geographic Names changed the name of the mountain back to "Denali." However, the U.S. Board of Geographic Names maintains "McKinley". Alaskans tend to use "Denali" and rely on context to distinguish between the park and the mountain. There have been several campaigns to officially switch the federally recognized name of the mountain back to "Denali". However, the name "McKinley" is well-known and has support as well. The name "McKinley" also allows visitors to differentiate between the mountain and the actual Denali National Park in which the mountain is located. In particular, at the first session of each Congress, Ralph Regula, the congressman from President McKinley's district, introduces legislation "to provide for the retention of the name of Mount McKinley," which effectively blocks any effort at a name change.
That's from Wikipedia.org
Britney Tamber
*DH: Adam Jeffrey*
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Oxygen.com's Babynamer lists it as a male name: http://snipurl.com/vvmk. But while this particular site is fairly reliable imo, I wouldn't bet my kid's life on it, so be forewarned!
Miranda
Proud adopter of 15 punctuation marks; see my profile for their names.
Proud adopter of 15 punctuation marks; see my profile for their names.
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