The Wonderful World of Geographic Names: Things Learned and Things Yet To Be Learned

Abstract

Abstract During thirty years as Executive Secretary of the Board on Geographic Names I had many learning experiences: team work by geographers and descriptive linguists broke new ground at this disciplinary interface; resolution of controversial Antarctic name problems demonstrated the practicability of international cooperation; systematic processing of millions of foreign and domestic names made possible many generalizations about name giving and using; mapping the occurrence of all generic terms in names on Geological Survey maps and coast charts published through 1958 gave new insights into the numbers, distribution, and varied application of terms.