Barrow's new name is its old one, Utqiaġvik. Local Iñupiaq leaders hope its use heals as it teaches.
The new-old name for Barrow may take some practice to pronounce, and it's time to start: Utqiaġvik won the nod from a slim majority of city voters earlier this month and now has the state's stamp of approval to take effect Dec. 1.
The name means a place for gathering wild roots and comes from the word now used for potato, utqiq.
Say it this way, with guttural back-of-the-throat sounds for the representative "k" and hard "g" in the middle: oot — kay-ahg — vik.
State officials say they know of just two other rural communities that changed their names in modern times: Nunapitchuk, formerly Akolmiut, which did so in 1983, and Nunam Iqua, which changed from Sheldon Point in 2000.
Read more: https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/rural-alaska/2016/10/29/barrows-new-name-is-its-old-one-utqiagvik-local-inupiaq-leaders-hope-its-use-heals-as-it-teaches/