Denali–Mount McKinley naming dispute

The name of Denali, the highest mountain in North America, became a subject of dispute in 1975, when the Alaska Legislature asked the U.S. federal government to officially change its name from "Mount McKinley" to "Denali". The name Denali is based on the Koyukon name of the mountain, Deenaalee ('the high one'). The Koyukon are a people of Alaskan Athabaskans (also known as Dena), who settled in the interior area north of the mountain.

The mountain had been unofficially named Mount McKinley in 1896 by a gold prospector and officially by the federal government in 1917 to commemorate William McKinley, who was President of the United States from 1897 until his assassination in 1901.

In 1975, the Alaskan government officially recognized Denali as the mountain's name and requested that the mountain be officially recognized as Denali by the federal government, as it was still the common name used in the state and was traditional among Alaska Native peoples. This change action was repeatedly blocked by members of the congressional delegation from Ohio, the home state of the mountain's presidential namesake, William McKinley.

In August 2015, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell officially changed the name to Denali in all federal documents. This came ahead of a visit by President Barack Obama to Alaska in the first week of September 2015. The Obama administration's measure was met with immediate criticism from the entire congressional delegation from Ohio.

In December 2024, President-elect Donald Trump stated that he planned to revert the mountain's federal name to Mount McKinley during his second term. Trump's proposal was met with criticism from many prominent Alaskans. Upon his inauguration in January 2025, Trump signed executive order Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness which changed the mountain's official federal name back to Mount McKinley.