National Park Names
Today, guest blogger SUSAN CHESNEY leads us through the name paths related to America‘s glorious national parks.
My family and I love nothing more than to visit as many National Parks as we can. We’ve been to twenty-six of them, from Acadia in Maine to the Everglades in Florida to Haleakala and Hawaiian Volcanoes. It’s amazing that we didn’t name our children after one–we were only thinking of classic names then (we did name our son Peter, which comes from the Greek Petros, meaning stone, as in Yellowstone)–because they are such a treasure trove of possibilities. Not only the parks themselves but the waterfalls, mountains and beaches within them have distinctive names. The passion I feel for National Parks is captured so perfectly by the artful names given to these places. Who, for example, can say Shenandoah without crossing into the past, into less complicated times?
So here is a list of National Park-related names:
ACADIA
ALBERTA (falls–Rocky Mountain)
ANSEL (park photographer Ansel Adams)
ARCHER, ARCHIE (Arches)
ASH (mountain–Sequoia and Kings Canyon)
BRYCE
CAMERON (lake–Waterton-Glacier)
CANYON
CARMEN (mountain range–Big Bend)
CRUZ (bay–Virgin Islands)
DENALI
ECHO (lake–Acadia)
ELEANOR (lake–Yosemite)
ELENA (canyon–Big Bend)
ELIAS (Wrangell-St. Elias)
EMERALD (ridge–Mt. Rainier)
EVER (Everglades)
GUADALUPE
HALLE (Haleakala)
ISIS (temple–Grand Canyon)
JASPER (forest–Petrified Forest)
JOSHUA (Joshua Tree)
JUNIPER (canyon–Big Bend)
KATMAI
KENAI (Kenai Fjords)
KING (Kings Canyon)
KOBUK (Kobuk Valley)
LASSEN (Lassen Volcanic)
MARIPOSA (grove–Yosemite)
MESA (Mesa Verde)
MOAB
MUIR (naturalist John Muir who helped save Yosemite)
OLYMPIA (Olympic)
QUINCY (mountain–Gates of the Arctic)
RAINIER
ROYALE (Isle Royale)
SAGE (creek–Badlands)
SEQUOIA
SHASTA (mountain near Lassen Volcanic)
SHENANDOAH
SMOKY (Great Smoky Mountains)
STONE (Yellowstone)
SULLIVAN (bay–Voyageurs)
VERDE (Mesa Verde)
TIRZAH (peak–Mt. Rainier)
ZION
SUSAN CHESNEY, a graduate of Art Center College of Design, was the president of a graphics company for twelve years. She lives near Pasadena, California with her husband Kent, daughter Laura (son Peter lives nearby), dog Roxanne Louise and cat Moses Malone.
comments
16 Responses to “National Park Names”
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
susan Says:
susan Says:
(my son wrote that)
realpraise Says:
Thanks, Susan! Since you put out that list I have been waiting for this.
Steve Lubin Says:
What a great idea! There are some beautiful names here. I love the names Joshua, Isis, Bryce and Juniper. Another name I love for a California State Park is Elsinore (Lake Elsinore).
Christy Says:
If only I could name my future grandchildren … the background of Peter’s name is beautiful!
sophia Says:
Great blog post Susan, this was really enjoyable to read
Christina Fonseca Says:
This was truly an inspired post! I never would have thought of putting together a list associated with Nationa Parks. Do you have your own blog?
Lyndsay Jenness Says:
Great list! I’ve toyed with the name Sequoia, I went there all the time as a kid, I love it there! I’m so jealous that you’ve been to so many national parks, how cool!
susan Says:
Thanks everyone for your wonderful replies! I even thank my son Peter for wanting to name his sea monkies after my blog. I do not have my own blog, but I should figure out how to do that. I have made many name lists on this website. One of my favorites is Las Vegas Names. If you look up Feather or Rollo or Jack and scroll down you can find it on the User List area. My husband and I hope to go to even more National Parks. It’s funny that we haven’t been to the closest park to where we live-Channel Islands.
Willie Says:
I enjoyed reading this. Looking forward to more.
Thank you
Melissa Says:
I do love the sounds of some of these names– Denali, Kenai– but am nowhere near courageous enough to attach them to a child. Still, a lovely, thought-provoking list, Susan. Well done!
Anne Says:
Great blog! I always enjoy reading your posts. Thanks.
lisa hamelton Says:
Were not Italians the first Latin Lovers?
What happened? The term Latin Lover was invented for the Italian movie stars like Rudy Valentino. Do Italians not think of themselves as Latin anymore? Or is that title gone over to the Latinos?
beachbody Says:
Well I have not yet read this blog article, but it looks very intersting.I would love to read more in future. Keep up the hard work in your nameberry.com site.
Monteforte Says:
I cherished what you might have carried out here. The structure is tasteful, your penned material elegant. Nevertheless, you could have acquired an edginess to what you’re offering the following. Sick positively arrive again yet again for very much a lot more in situation you protect this up. Dont eliminate hope if not too various men and women see your ideas, know you’ve got attained a fan appropriate the following who values what you’ve received to say along with the way you’ve offered oneself. Excellent on you!
niccole Says:
I need help choosing a name for a project on national parks.
What is a good name for one? Help!!
leave a reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Search The Blog
Categories...
All posts from the Nameberry blog sorted by category
- Baby Name News
- Baby Names
- Baby Names Popularity
- Boy Baby Names
- Celebrity Names
- Classic Baby Names
- Cool Baby Names
- Family Names
- feature_on_home
- Gallery
- Girl Baby Names
- Guest Blog Posts
- Guest Bloggers
- Historic Names
- International Baby Names
- Meanings of Baby Names
- Middle, Last and Nicknames
- Name Image
- Names from the Arts & Pop Culture
- Nature, Place and Word Names
- Pregnancy & Baby
- Questions of the Week
- Sibling and Multiple Names
- Spellings, Sounds and Initials
- Trends and Predictions
- Unisex Baby Names
- Unusual Baby Names
Archives
All posts from the Nameberry blog sorted by date
Popular Posts
Some of our most popular blog posts
Recent Posts
Some of our most recent blog posts


I have a tank full of sea monkeys…I might name each of them one of these names…