A new steam vent near Nymph Lake in Yellowstone National Park attracted a lot of attention when it suddenly appeared in August 2024. Even in the ever-changing landscape of Yellowstone, it’s not every day that people see a new thermal feature emerge.
The U.S. Geological Survey was observing the new steam vent until the winter snow prevented easy access. Once they’re able to get back to it, the new feature might already be gone.
“That new vent was much diminished by the end of last year,” said Mike Poland, scientist-in-charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. “We might be able to observe it in late spring or early summer, but it may be quiet by then."
One thing that seems inevitable is that, regardless of whether this new steam vent is still steaming, it’s unlikely to get a name.
Naming Yellowstone’s landmarks started with colloquial references, observations, and honors in the 1800s, but the name game is a bureaucratic process in the 21st Century.
“There's nothing particularly special about this steam vent, and official names require a fair bit of work,” Poland said.
Name Drop
The U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN), part of the Department of the Interior, is the ultimate authority on geographical names in the United States. Established in 1890, it started reviewing, accepting, and standardizing the names for the nation's mountains, rivers, and landmarks in 1906.
“The process for naming features in Yellowstone National Park is the same as any other location,” said Laura Castro-Lindarte with the Office of Communications for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). “Complete proposals that meet the standards for review by the BGN are added to a Quarterly Review List, tribes are notified and asked to comment, the staff asks for input from Park or Teton County, and the National Park Service is asked for a recommendation.”
Castro-Lindarte said naming or renaming geographic features in Yellowstone can take longer because of the Wyoming Board of Geographic Names. The board is also asked to review proposals but only meets twice a year.
“Once all the recommendations are received, the BGN votes,” she said.
Wyoming has clashed with the BGN in recent years. The Reconciliation in Place Names Committee, a BGN subcommittee, recommended that Devils Tower be renamed “Bear Lodge” in 2024 to reflect its history and significance to American Indians.
Several initiatives to rename Devils Tower have been launched, but none have gained enough momentum to effect any change. Wyomingites are and have always been opposed to these initiatives.
"Bear Lodge is just as wrong as Devils Tower," state Sen. Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, told Cowboy State Daily in 2024. "There are 20 tribes that all have different names for the tower. To pick one tribe over another for the name, known nationwide and forever as Devils Tower, is disingenuous and wrong.”
Even when new thermal features appear in Yellowstone National Park, they are unlikely to get named. Getting a new name in Yellowstone is a lengthy process that hasn't happened in two decades — and might never happen again. But that doesn't mean there aren't uniquely named features, like Red Spouter. (Getty Images) 
Even when new thermal features appear in Yellowstone National Park, they are unlikely to get named. Getting a new name in Yellowstone is a lengthy process that hasn't happened in two decades — and might never happen again. But that doesn't mean there aren't uniquely named features, like Steamboat Geyeser, the hightest in the world. (Getty Images) 
Even when new thermal features appear in Yellowstone National Park, they are unlikely to get named. Getting a new name in Yellowstone is a lengthy process that hasn't happened in two decades — and might never happen again. But that doesn't mean there aren't uniquely named features, like Echinus Geyser, named because of its resemblance to a sea urchin. (National Park Service)
Behavioral Changes
According to Lee Whittlesey’s book "Yellowstone Place Names", there are over 2,000 active names in Yellowstone, and at least that many that are “obsolete” for a variety of reasons. Considering there are over 10,000 thermal features in the park, that theoretically leaves a lot of Yellowstone nameless.
Over the last century, the BGN has accepted and standardized hundreds of historical names in Yellowstone, but it has been decades since anything new has been named in the park.
The newest name for a previously unnamed geographic feature in Yellowstone is Cummings Creek, accepted on Jan. 1, 2000. The name was submitted to the BGN in February 1999 to recognize Lt. Joseph Franklin Cummings, who attempted to find the first wagon route through the park in 1881.
The last thermal feature to receive a BGN-standardized name was Churn Geyser, near Old Faithful in the Upper Geyser Basin. Although the name was accepted in 2000, the geyser had been known as Churn Geyser since 1885.
Churn Geyser is classified as a fountain-type geyser, but it's only erupted once since 2023. Most visitors will experience it as a placid six-foot-wide pool.
Poland said the ever-changing behavior of these features often contradicts what their names suggest.
“A lot of environmental factors influence thermal features,” he said. “When water and groundwater levels drop, or there's less rain and snowmelt in the park, the thermal features can change their character. Thermal features throughout the park behave differently depending on the season. We see it all the time.”
Red Spouter, a thermal feature that didn’t exist until 1959, behaves like a fumarole during the driest parts of the summer and a mud pot or hot spring in winter and spring when there’s plenty of water feeding its subterranean plumbing system. Its behavior and appearance are highly seasonal.
Ironically, while it appears on the National Park Service’s maps of Yellowstone, Red Spouter is in the BGN’s Geographic Names Information System. That means the dynamic thermal feature, despite being widely known as Red Spouter, hasn't been officially accepted and standardized as Red Spouter.
A new thermal feature would have to be dynamic and significant to qualify for a standardized name through the BGN’s processes. Poland is skeptical that the new fumarole near Nymph Lake would qualify.
“There's a zillion of similar vents in Yellowstone,” he said. “I doubt whether this one would get a name because there’s nothing particularly special about it other than it’s visible from the Grand Loop Road in a spot that hasn’t seen a thermal vent before.”
Yellow-Stonewalled
Yellowstone has had one “new” name since 2000.
First Peoples Mountain was renamed in 2022 to remedy the controversy attached to its original namesake, Lt. Gustavus Cheyney Doane.
Efforts to rename Yellowstone features aren’t new. When the BGN started standardizing geographic names in the park, it deliberately avoided standardizing names with any mythological, biblical, and political references (attributed to stagecoach tour guides in the park’s early years), even if they were widely known and long-lived.
One of Yellowstone’s name prohibitions was established before it became a national park. The 1870 Washburn Expedition established the convention that thermal features should not be named after people, and that convention has (mostly) been followed ever since.
Arnold Hague, one of the first USGS surveyors, tried to exorcise Yellowstone in the 1880s. He wanted to eliminate any name in the park that included “devil” and “hell.”
Hague’s success is up to interpretation. Many people and park staff still refer to Devils Bathtub, Hell’s Gate Spouter, and Little Lucifer, but the BGN doesn’t have any Yellowstone devil names in its database (Devils Bathtub is now Bathtub Spring, and there are no BGN names for the other two features).
Conversely, names standardized by the BGN can stick even when they might not reflect changes in the dynamic landscape. Minute Geyser used to erupt every 60 seconds until its vent was clogged shut by rocks thrown by early tourists.
The BGN standardized Minute Geyser’s name in 2000. There have been only 11 documented eruptions in the 25 years since.
Even when new thermal features appear in Yellowstone National Park, they are unlikely to get named. Getting a new name in Yellowstone is a lengthy process that hasn't happened in two decades — and might never happen again. But that doesn't mean there aren't uniquely named features, like Nymph Lake. (Getty Images) 
Even when new thermal features appear in Yellowstone National Park, they are unlikely to get named. Getting a new name in Yellowstone is a lengthy process that hasn't happened in two decades — and might never happen again. But that doesn't mean there aren't uniquely named features, like Nymph Lake. (Getty Images)
Nameless Future
Another important naming policy applies to Yellowstone National Park. Castro-Lindarte said that, as a recommended wilderness, any new names must meet the standards of the Wilderness Area Geographic Names Policy of the National Wilderness Preservation System.
Established in 1964, the policy states that “placenames in a wilderness area might diminish the sense of discovery that those who visit ought to be able to experience. No wilderness area today is totally free of placenames and cultural artifacts, but a goal of the Federal wilderness area administration is to minimize the impacts and traces of people.”
According to the Wilderness Area Geographic Names Policy, the BGN will not approve and standardize proposed names for unnamed features “unless an overriding need can be demonstrated by the proponent.” That limits the potential for new names in Yellowstone.
“A lot of Yellowstone National Park is in a recommended wilderness, so the Wilderness Area Geographic Names Policy applies for new names,” Castro-Lindarte said.
Never Forever
Some thermal features, landmarks and other places in Yellowstone National Park might be renamed in the future to remove reminders of controversy from the map. Still, there may never be another new name in Yellowstone.
“Naming isn’t something that people casually do,” Poland said. “I can't think of any features that formed recently that have been officially named, and the significance of those features is debatable.”
That’s why it’s unlikely anyone will try to name the new steam vent near Nymph Lake – names are forever, but Yellowstone constantly changes. Poland can’t even guarantee the vent will still be there when the park opens for the summer season.
“The vent could still be there in spring or may have gone quiet like a frying pan sizzling out,” he said. “It’s always hard to say because Yellowstone is such a dynamic system, and it changes all the time."
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
