The naming of villages (municipalities) is determined by the  Guam Legislature since those are political jurisdictions which have boundaries and affect legal documents, residence, voting, and government benefits. While the Kumisión does not have authority over the naming of political jurisdictions (villages), the Kumisión is required to make recommendations to the Legislature including the orthographically aligned CHamoru spelling of village names.

The Kumisión is also engaged in restoring traditional place names within village boundaries. Efforts started with approximately 1,321 place names as recorded in “A Glossary of Guamanian Place Names Located by Land Square Section & Unit” prepared by the Survey Division of the Department of Land Management in 1945. The list has also been supplemented with additional place names by collaborating with other interested community members, researchers, and village informants. Kumisión staff are meeting with village informants to identify and corroborate traditional place names that are being put on village maps. They are simultaneously documenting the genealogy of places through the stories told by informants.This is an ongoing effort and will involve reviewing findings with village Municipal Councils.

The Kumisión will eventually collaborate with the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, Apple Maps, and Google Maps to incorporate traditional CHamoru place names on their platforms. The Kumisión has partnered with Gov Guam’s Bureau of Statistics & Plans to provide updates which include traditional place names on village maps.

The Kumisión is responsible for documenting the correct pronunciation and orthographic spelling of these place names.