Guam Name Change?

News is filtering through that the island territory of Guam in the western Pacific Ocean, could be renamed.

On 15 Feb, outgoing Governor Felix Camacho called for the name of Guam to be changed to the Chamorro language form Guahan (Guåhan). He issued an executive order for the name change to apply at a local level and said he would submit a bill for national approval which would require the official sanction of the lawmakers. Guam was predominantly referred to as Guahan from 1521 until 1898.

Some senators support the renaming proposal, other said it was purely a vanity project by Governor Camacho, to leave his mark in history.

A former senator, Katherine Aguon, who led a recent project to publish a new Chamorro-English dictionary, supports the idea. She said consideration should be given to the impact of the renaming and the actual name form used on maps, "Without that circle on the ‘a’ is it the same place? We have to think about all these things before an executive order is issued.”

Pacific Islands Report: Guam Residents Divided On Name Change
Guam Pacific Daily News.com: Camacho: Name change will affirm identity
Guam Visitors Bureau: www.visitguam.org