BETHEL -- An effort to change the name of the Wade Hampton Census Area is gaining momentum, and now there's a suggested replacement.
Hampton was a Confederate general and slave owner who went on to become a South Carolina governor and U.S. senator. He never came to Alaska. His son-in-law was a territorial judge who in 1913 named a mining district for Hampton, a district that eventually became the census area used for tracking demographic trends.
The name never sat well with Myron Naneng, who is from Hooper Bay, the area's biggest village, and who now serves as president of the Bethel-based Association of Village Council Presidents. The regional nonprofit organization serves villages in the Wade Hampton area.
At his suggestion, the Hooper Bay tribe and city passed a joint resolution this week supporting changing the name to Kusilvak Census District.
The Kusilvak Mountains are the tallest in the area, with a high point of 2,400 feet, according to Orth's Dictionary of Alaska Place Names.
The naming apparently was done by someone unaware that aboriginal people lived in the area, and for someone who was not from Alaska, the resolution said.
"Be it further resolved that 'Kusilvak' is the 'Denali' of the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta," said the resolution signed by Hooper Bay Mayor Joseph Bell and tribal chief Edgar Hoelscher.
The resolution mistakenly referred to a wildlife refuge in one section but will be redone, Naneng said. It is being sent to legislators and Gov. Bill Walker.
The proposed name is pronounced COO-sil-a-vak.
The U.S. Census Bureau has said it will change the name if there is consensus from Alaska.