The U.S. National Park Service has a birthday coming up!
When the NPS was created on August 25, 1916, there were only 35 national parks and monuments. (The world’s first, Yellowstone, had been established in 1872.)
Nowadays the agency oversees 411 units. These units are located in the 50 states and beyond, and include national monuments (82), national historic sites (78), national parks (59), national historical parks (50), national memorials (30), national battlefields (11), national seashores (10), national lakeshores (4), national scenic trails (3), and more.
Let’s celebrate the upcoming centennial with more than 100 baby names that pay tribute to the national parks specifically:
- Acadia for Acadia National Park.
- Angel or Angela for Grand Canyon National Park’s Angel’s Window.
- Arrow for the NPS emblem, the arrowhead.
- Archer for Arches National Park.
- Barbara for Channel Islands National Park’s Santa Barbara Island.
- Bathsheba for Hot Springs National Park’s Bathhouse Row.
- Bay for any of the parks featuring a bay, such as Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve, Biscayne National Park, etc.
- Benda or Bendrick for Big Bend National Park.
- Bona for Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve’s Mt. Bona.
- Bristol for Great Basin National Park’s bristlecone pines.
- Bryce or Brycen for Bryce Canyon National Park.
- Cadden or Caddie for Acadia National Park’s Cadillac Mountain.
- Cade for Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s Cades Cove.
- Canyon for any of the parks featuring a canyon, such as Grand Canyon National Park, Canyonlands National Park, etc.
- Capitola for Capitol Reef National Park or for Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan.
- Carl or Carla for Carlsbad Caverns National Park.
- Caven for Mammoth Cave National Park.
- Cedar for Congaree National Park’s Cedar Creek.
- Cinder for Lassen Volcanic National Park’s Cinder Cone.
- Clark for Lake Clark National Park & Preserve.
- Clifford or Clifton for Mesa Verde National Park’s Cliff Palace.
- Cruz for Channel Islands National Park’s Santa Cruz Island.
- Delica for Arches National Park’s Delicate Arch.
- Denali for Denali National Park & Preserve.
- Denison for Katmai National Park & Preserve’s Mt. Denison.
- Domenica or Domenico for Yosemite National Park’s Half Dome.
- Douglas for Katmai National Park & Preserve’s Mt. Douglas.
- Elias for Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve.
- Elliott for Biscayne National Park’s Elliott Key.
- Ever or Everly for Everglades National Park.
- Faith for Yellowstone National Park’s Old Faithful geyser.
- Forest for Petrified Forest National Park.
- Garland for Garland County, Arkansas, where Hot Springs National Park is located.
- Gates for Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve.
- Guadalupe for Guadalupe Mountains National Park.
- Gunnison for Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.
- The park was established in 1999, and Gunnison debuted on the baby name charts the very same year. Did one event cause the other?
- Harding for Kenai Fjords National Park’s Harding Icefield.
- Hassel for Virgin Islands National Park’s Hassel Island.
- Jackson for Jackson Hole, where much of Grand Teton National Park is located.
- Jarvis for Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve’s Mt. Jarvis.
- Jefferson for Dry Tortugas National Park’s Fort Jefferson.
- John for Virgin Islands National Park’s St. John Island.
- Joshua for Joshua Tree National Park.
- Kenai for Kenai Fjords National Park.
- The derivation of Kenai is unknown, but it could come from either Dena’ina Athabascan (“big flat” or “two big flats and river cut-back” or “trees and brush in a swampy marsh”), Russian (“flat barren land”), or Iniut (“black bear”).
- Kingston or Kingsley for Kings Canyon National Park.
- Lake for any of the parks featuring lakes, such as Crater Lake National Park, Voyageurs National Park, Lake Clark National Park & Preserve, etc.
- Lamar for Yellowstone National Park’s Lamar Buffalo Ranch.
- Lassen for Lassen Volcanic National Park.
- Lata for the National Park of American Samoa’s Lata Mountain.
- Lehman for Great Basin National Park’s Lehman Caves.
- Lewis for Glacier National Park’s Lewis Range.
- Livingston for Glacier National Park’s Livingston Range.
- Manning for Saguaro National Park’s Manning Cabin.
- Mara for Joshua Tree National Park’s Oasis of Mara.
- In the Serrano language, Mara means “the place of little springs and much grass.”
- Martin for Katmai National Park & Preserve’s Mt. Martin.
- Maui for the island of Maui, where Haleakala National Park is located.
- Mauna for Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park’s Mauna Loa.
- Miguel for Channel Islands National Park’s San Miguel Island.
- Norris for Yellowstone National Park’s Norris Geyser Basin.
- North for North Cascades National Park.
- Olympia for Olympic National Park.
- Parker, Parks, Park, or Parke as a tribute to all national parks.
- Pele as a symbol of Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park.
- Prairie for any of the parks featuring a prairie, such as Badlands National Park, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, etc.
- Pratt for Guadalupe Mountains National Park’s Pratt Cabin.
- Rainier for Mount Rainier National Park.
- Ranger as a tribute to all national parks and park rangers.
- Reef for Capitol Reef National Park.
- Rhodes for Biscayne National Park’s Old Rhodes Key.
- Rocky for Rocky Mountain National Park.
- Roosevelt for Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
- Rosa for Channel Islands National Park’s Santa Rosa Island.
- Royale or Royal for Isle Royale National Park.
- Sandy for Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve.
- Sanford for Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve’s Mt. Sanford.
- Sequoia for Sequoia National Park.
- Shenandoah for Shenandoah National Park.
- Sherman for Sequoia National Park’s General Sherman Tree.
- Sky or Skye for any of the parks featuring a night sky program, such as Big Bend National Park, Great Basin National Park, etc.
- Talus for Pinnacles National Park’s talus caves.
- Theodore for Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
- Valley for any of the parks featuring a valley, such as Cuyahoga Valley, Death Valley, Kobuk Valley, etc.
- Verda or Verdell for Mesa Verde National Park.
- Virginia for Virgin Islands National Park.
- Windy for Wind Cave National Park.
- Wolfe for Arches National Park’s Wolfe Ranch.
- Woodrow or Wilson for Woodrow Wilson, who signed the act that created the NPS.
- Woody or Woodson for Redwood National and State Parks.
- Yosemite for Yosemite National Park.
- Zion for Zion National Park.
For all you national park lovers out there: What other park-inspired names can you come up with?
Sources: List of national parks of the United States – Wikipedia, Quick History of the National Park Service, National Park System (U.S. National Park Service), Kenai Fjords National Park Profile 2015 (PDF)
Images (all from the LOC): Grand Canyon National Park poster, Lassen Volcanic National Park poster, Zion National Park poster
[Latest update: July 2023]
