The South Dakota Board on Geographic Names ⦠But ⦠I believe it is a policy that needs to be reconsidered because anyone born in the United States of America is a Native American, but they are not American Indians. South Dakota changing place names: Negro Canyon and creeks and dams named with the word âsquawâ are targets for name changes chosen by the South Dakota Board on Geographic Names. But this uniquely American holiday is not without controversy. There are ⦠A number of schools are also reconsidering nicknames, though some are resisting any switch. It is not just the N.F.L.âs Washington team that could get a name change. The Term 'Eskimo' Has A Controversial Past : Goats and Soda There's a new theory about what the term means. Many Lakota people today prefer to be called Lakota instead of Sioux, as Sioux was a disrespectful name given to them by their enemies. The words Lakota and Dakota, however, are translated to mean âfriendâ or âallyâ and is what they called themselves. The University of North Dakota sued the NCAA claiming the schoolâs athletic nickname, The Fighting Sioux, was not offensive. Officials in South Dakota and other states have for years moved to do away with overtly offensive names for geographic places and monuments. In South Dakota, Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse led various Sioux tribes against the U.S. Army. The North Dakota Fighting Sioux controversy refers to the controversy surrounding the now retired nickname and logo of the North Dakota Fighting Hawks a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the athletic teams that represented the University of North Dakota based in Grand Forks, North Dakota.. The University of North Dakota Dropped Its Offensive Nickname. In the first four months of 2008, the U.S. Board on Geographic names renamed 16 valleys creeks and other sites omitting the name squaw. The North Dakota state legislature will be voting to change the University of North Dakota's offensive school nickname Are you offended by these logos and team names?? But that doesn't change its controversial past. I even used to say of the University of North Dakota's "Fighting Sioux" that I was somewhat proud of the name â and glad it wasn't the "Flower-picking Sioux". ... Bowie shares a recent post about the University of North Dakotaâs search for a ⦠The most high profile case at that time sought by the National Congress of American Indians was the renaming of the Phoenix hiking spot Squaw Peak to Piestewa Peak. Thanksgiving has become synonymous with family, food, and football. A howl went up in the Indian community, but the howl was less about political correctness than about the bad usage of the name in that particular context.