In recent years, names of well-known establishments have changed thanks to, essentially, the highest bidder. Case in point, the Orlando Magic’s home, Amway Center, just changed to the Kia Center because Amway’s 13-year contract was completed. Similar name changes have happened to Stockton’s Stockton Arena (now Adventist Health Arena) and the San Antonio’s Spurs’ AT&T Arena (now Frost Bank Center).
Name changes can also happen simply due to more modern open-mindedness about our country’s past and present problems with racism and stereotypes. A popular ski resort changed its name so it wouldn’t be offensive. In recent years, Aunt Jemima’s pancake mix and Uncle Ben’s rice were reimagined not to evoke slavery. And, of course, South of the Border‘s famous roadside signage no longer includes so-called “Mexican-Speak.”
Airports are also not immune to name changes. There have been some notable changes (and almost changes) over the years, for various reasons:
- Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) was “just” Newark International Airport in its pre-9/11 days. In 2002, the name of the airport was changed to, “honor defenders of freedom and the heroes of Sept. 11.”
- In the aftermath of the 2020 election, there was talk of a petition to change the name of Glasgow Prestwick Airport to “Joe Biden International Airport,” in an attempt to troll ex-president Donald Trump when he’d land at Prestwick to go to his golf resort in Scotland
- For a few years, Bogota Colombia’s El Dorado International Airport (BOG) changed its name from ‘El Dorado’ (in reference to the mythical golden city in the prehispanic Americas) to ‘El Rosado’ (loosely translated to ‘the pink one’) during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
- An airport in New York changed its name in response to Black Lives Matter, while one in Nevada got a new name so as not to honor a leader with a long history of racist ideas.
In much more recent history, there’s a petition to change the name of Key West’s airport to honor Jimmy Buffett. And now there’s some conversation going on to name the international terminal at San Francisco International Airport after the late Senator Dianne Feinstein.
Feinstein died in September at the age of 90. Some of her accomplishments included being the first female mayor of San Francisco and the first woman U.S. senator from California, the latter of which she held for 32 years. With that, some of her friends and fans are working together to get several places – including some biking/hiking trails and a U.S. Navy ship, named after her.
However, the group, which calls itself the Dianne Feinstein 100-Plus Committee (because they had over 100 members in the first 6 weeks after the senator’s death), is also forging ahead to get the terminal named after her.
According to their website, the group (which includes the likes of former San Francisco International Airport Director John L. Martin, California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalaki, and San Francisco Mayor London Breed) submitted a renaming application to the Airport Commission in November. The next Airport Commission hearing is scheduled for January 16, 2024.
Should Feinstein’s name be adorned on SFO’s international terminal, she would be in good company. Other U.S. politicians who have had airports, terminals or runways named or re-named for them include Ronald Reagan, Harvey Milk, Bill and Hillary Clinton, John F. Kennedy, Byron Dorgan, Barbara Jordan, George Bush, Fiorello LaGuardia, Roy Blunt, and Tom Bradley, among others.
Feature Image (cropped) Freedom To Marry / flickr / CC BY 2.0 DEED
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