ATURIDǺT
Scope of Authority
The duties and responsibilities outlined in the Guam Code Annotated Section 88105 (l) and (m) provide legal support to the efforts of the Kumisión to revive, reinforce, and perpetuate the CHamoru language and culture through place naming. The Kumisión oversees and approves all of the proposed changes, alterations, or renaming of place names in Guåhan through it’s
Kumitéhan Na’an Lugǻt.
While the Kumisión has been charged with the restoration of indigenous place names, there are limits to our jurisdiction. We have no formal role in deciding the names of roads, schools, villages, or the boundaries between municipalities. Public facilities or named areas like parks are usually designated by the Guam Legislature. The Kumisión does, however, have jurisdiction over the naming of rivers and streams, summits, area/locale, springs/water basins, beaches, bays, valleys, capes/points, planned unit developments, and commonly-used names. This is consistent with the use of the term “geographical features” as used by the Board of Geographic Names (BGN) of the US Geological Survey.
Political jurisdictions like the municipalities (or villages) or the island itself (Guam, not Guåhan) will only change if accompanied by legal action from the Government of Guam. The recent changes to five village names have been submitted in accordance with Guam Public Law. The name change to Hagåtña will automatically change to Hagåtña River, but will not affect Agana Heights. The river is a geographical feature whereas the latter is a political jurisdiction.