Mountain: Name change is long overdue

Re: “It’s Tahoma, not Rainier; change mountain name,” (TNT guest column, 1/17).

Indigenous people populated central and west central Washington some 12,000-15,000 years before Europeans ever laid eyes on it.

That’s more than enough time for names to have been given, accepted and handed down through generations of original inhabitants.

Prior to the late 18th century, no one ever called our mountain “Rainier.”

Admiral Peter Reignier – for whom The Mountain was “renamed’ in 1792 – was a British naval officer during the American Revolution.

That makes Mount Rainier the largest geophysical entity in America to be renamed for a former enemy of the state.

Admiral Reignier never gazed upon the peak which bears his name. But his distant grand-nephew did, assuring many listeners that the family name is pronounced using three syllables (RAY-nee-er) rather than two (ray-NEER).

Evidently, we are not even pronouncing the wrong word the right way.

A lesson I imparted to many classes of fourth grade students: The enduring name for this Mountain, bequeathed by the First Americans hundreds, perhaps thousands of years ago –is, factually, Tahoma.

Always was, always will be.

This story was originally published January 19, 2021 at 8:05 AM with the headline "Mountain: Name change is long overdue."