We name things to take ownership of
them. When we build or buy a house we may give it a name. Someone else decides on numbers but a name is
bestowed by you, and may reflect hope, celebration or nostalgia.
As soon as you adopt a cat or dog you
give it a name. Children of course are christened with care, and children themselves spontaneously name places to make
them more real, more significant. In one neighbourhood there was
“Jumping Cliff”, where kids jumped into piles of leaves,
“Witch's Garden” on which a stooped old woman looked down from a
window, and “Midnight Boat”, a boat-shaped rocky outcrop on which
many imaginary journeys were taken. The naming habit isn't lost in
adulthood: one couple (probably many) call the BC Ferry on which they
met “the Love Boat”.
The trouble starts when public
buildings or sites are named for historic figures, events, or
places from which settlers arrived. Always, some group comes along
wanting to re-name them. The purpose of re-naming is to take a place
away from someone else. It's about possession.
We could avoid this by choosing
nomenclature not from historic figures or episodes, but from names of
non-human entities such as the plants and animals found in a
place. We could raise the process of labelling above the level of
human squabbling to the level of flora, fauna, geology and weather.
How about naming streets Raccoon Row,
Wild Dog Way, or Storm Street? And if someone objects to
“privileging” the English language, how about (instead of
privileging another one) using a language no one now speaks, such as
Latin and Greek? How about Ursus Alley (where bears used to roam),
Mt. Quercus (where oaks still grow), Canis Court, or Fort Felix,
standing where cougars still sometimes prowl? (In schools, a
teachable moment about classical languages?)
We already name some places after
natural features. Consider Trout Lake (in Burnaby), Sunset Boulevard
(in California) and Oak Shade Lane, Oaklands School and Willows
School in Victoria. Why not stick to that? Today's heroic historic figure will be tomorrow's villain
– to someone. But a trout's a trout and a willow's a willow – and
no one need stoop to childish nomenclature conflicts which amount to
“he took it – I had it first”.
Naming schools, buildings, libraries,
streets and towns after other species acknowledges that we
disputatious humans are only one species among millions, and that the
landscape belongs as much to the others as to us. By naming places for
natural features rather than for human history, we recognize that
nature (Earth) owns itself. In Earth-time, we are creatures of a
moment. No ethnic group “owns” a place for we are all but tenants
here, quickly passing through.
If schools were named for local
wildlife and trees, especially endangered ones, the students could
take ownership of campaigns to protect them. Think of all the science
and art projects that could be built around it, if schools were
named for intriguing plants and animals rather than for a person that
someone, somewhere, will dislike.
