A fresh attempt to rename Colorado’s signature summit has hit a bureaucratic wall, while a separate push to restore an Indigenous name is stuck in a much longer queue. Pikes Peak is not changing names anytime soon, but the latest filings have reopened a larger argument over who gets to name Colorado’s mountains — and what those names should represent.
D’Arcy Straub, a former Denver patent attorney and current federal employee, submitted proposals two years ago to rename 97 Colorado mountains. The Denver Gazette reported that the U.S. Board of Geographic Names rejected all of Straub’s submissions, including his proposal to rename Pikes Peak Fluorite Mountain.
The rejection was based on shortcomings in the application rather than on a formal debate over whether Fluorite Mountain was a better name. The federal board said Straub had not established local support, consulted Colorado’s resident tribal nations, or determined whether federal land managers supported, opposed, or remained neutral on the proposed changes, according to U.S. Geological Survey guidance.
A Second Name Change Is Stuck In The Queue
Another proposal would take Pikes Peak back to Tava Mountain, a name associated with the Ute word for Sun Mountain. That proposal was forwarded by the national board to Colorado’s Geographic Naming Advisory Board, but the Denver Gazette reported that it has not been formally placed on the state board’s agenda.
Chris Arend, a spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, said each proposal is considered individually and weighed on its own merits. He also cautioned that the Tava proposal is not expected to reach the agenda in the near future because officials still need to collect and vet information while other naming requests remain in line.
That means the proposal has cleared one procedural hurdle but is nowhere near a final decision. The U.S. Board of Geographic Names is the federal authority for official geographic names, while Colorado’s advisory board reviews referred proposals and makes recommendations to the governor before the state’s position returns to the national board.
Pikes Peak Has Never Had Just One Name
Long before it became Pikes Peak, the 14,115-foot mountain was known as Tava, or Sun Mountain, among Ute people in the region. The Tabeguache name means the people of Sun Mountain, while Arapaho people called the landmark Heey-otoyoo, or Long Mountain, according to History Colorado.
Spanish explorers used names including Montana del Sol and El Capitan, while Zebulon Pike referred to it as the Grand Peak and Highest Peak after failing to climb it. Newspapers began using Pikes Peak during the Colorado gold rush, and the U.S. Board of Geographic Names formally adopted the name in 1890.
The debate fits into a broader shift in Colorado toward names that emphasize geography, culture, and enduring public meaning instead of automatically honoring explorers, politicians, or other historical figures. Earlier this year, the Colorado Geographic Naming Advisory Board declined to advance Straub’s proposal to rename Longs Peak Beaver Mountain, with local opposition and lack of demonstrated need weighing heavily, as reported by The Colorado Sun.
The recent renaming of Mount Evans to Mount Blue Sky also showed how complicated the process can become. The U.S. Department of the Interior said that change followed years of review and nation-to-nation consultations, a model that makes the lack of tribal outreach in Straub’s applications especially consequential.
For now, Colorado Springs still has Pikes Peak, and the Tava Mountain proposal is waiting for its turn in the state’s naming machinery. The mountain’s many older names may keep the argument alive, but the official one is staying put for the foreseeable future.
