Indigenous Place Names Project

The Indigenous Place Names Project recognizes and honors the Dena’ina language, knowledge, and enduring connection to the lands and waters of Anchorage. The project is guided by an Indigenous-led advisory group and is a collaborative effort of the Native Village of Eklutna, Alaska Native Heritage Center, Anchorage Museum, and Anchorage Park Foundation. Together, these partners are working to bring Dena’ina place names, language, and cultural knowledge into Anchorage’s public spaces.

Honoring Place

For more than a decade, Native Village of Eklutna Chair and CEO, Dena’ina scholar, and Anchorage Museum Curator Aaron Leggett has worked to bring Dena’ina language and knowledge into the public landscape of Anchorage. In 2018, he approached Anchorage Park Foundation about bringing Indigenous place names to parks and trails. The Rasmuson Foundation provided the initial funding to help make the project possible.

The Indigenous Place Names Project will bring Dena’ina language, art, and stories of place to 32 locations in Anchorage and the Native Village of Eklutna. Each location was selected because of its significance to Dena’ina people.

At each site, a sculptural fire bag introduces the Dena’ina place name and shares knowledge about the area. The fire bag, designed by Athabascan and Paiute artist Melissa Shaginoff, represents living outdoors and sharing fire and knowledge. Its design is also inspired by dentalium, which has long been used in Dena’ina clothing, art, and adornment.

Together, the sculptures and place names invite us to see Anchorage through a Dena’ina perspective and learn more about the land, its history, and the people who have known and cared for these places for generations.

This is more than adding names to signs. It is about creating a community where Indigenous language, knowledge, art, and history are visible and valued as part of everyday life.

Growing a Movement

The Indigenous Place Names Project is part of a growing movement to recognize and celebrate Indigenous languages, knowledge, and connections to place. Dena’ina place names have always been part of this landscape. The project is helping bring those names into the places where people live, work, travel, and play today.

Its influence is already reaching beyond the original place name sculptures. Indigenous place names and design are appearing in new ways across Anchorage, including the Dena’ina quill pattern at Frontier Park and Indigenous place names incorporated into downtown wayfinding signage.

These efforts show how one project can help inspire others and change the way a community experiences place. The Indigenous Place Names Project has shown the importance of Indigenous leadership, community involvement, and Indigenous art and design in creating work that can grow and continue for generations.

Listen to the Dena’ina Place Names

Weaving Dena’ina language into everyday life starts with using the names. Listen and learn how to pronounce each Indigenous place name as Aaron Leggett, Chief of the Native Village of Eklutna, Dena’ina scholar, and Anchorage Museum Curator, shares its meaning in the Dena’ina language.

Explore Dena’ina place names by landscape feature. Choose a category below, such as Mountains, Valleys, Lakes, or Rivers, to find place names and listen to their pronunciations and meanings.

Listen, learn, and begin using the names in your own conversations as we weave Dena’ina language into everyday life.

Valleys

Dgheyay tł‘u (Arctic Valley)