The federal government just finished re-naming over 650 of its properties. Why? Because each of these places had in its name a derogatory term for a Native American woman. And the job isn’t finished yet. In 2021 the Derogatory Geographic Names Task Force was established whose job it is to find and eliminate all derogatory name from the entire country. Like all government entities, once it’s started it will never go away.

Here are links to a couple articles about the crusade to ban offensive names:

U.S. Renames Federal Lands Containing Anti-Native American Slur (outsideonline.com)

US changes names of places with racist term for Native women – NewsBreak

There are four names that children cannot be named in the US: Adolf Hitler, Santa Claus, Jesus Christ and the @ sign. Each state has banned names as well.

Here is a link to an article about banned baby names:

Banned Baby Names in Minnesota and the US (kroc.com)

According to the Bible, God named things initially as he made them. He named the light day and the darkness night. He named the sky heaven, the dry land earth and the gathered waters seas. (Genesis 1:1-10) Then he turned the job of naming things over to Adam. (Genesis 2:19-20)

The most important thing to know about names is that God calls us by name:

“But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.'” (Isaiah 43:1)

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” (I John 3:1)

God still calls us his children even though we have misused his name countless times. He says in the Second Commandment: “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.” And the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer is: “Hallowed be thy name.”

When God first brought Eve to Adam he called her “bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” (Genesis 2:23) When God is confronting Adam with his sin calls Eve, “the woman whom you gave to be with me.” People have continued to use derogatory names ever since.

For the sake of Christ our Savior our sins are forgiven and we are restored to our heavenly Father. We respond to God’s mercy in Christ with the words of Psalm 103, verse 1: “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!”