Federal Naming Commission seeking public comment

Body tasked with examining Confederate symbols taking suggestions for replacements

The Naming Commission, the federal task force examining Confederate symbols on military installations, is seeking recommendations for new names for installations and ships that could be renamed.

The Naming Commission was formed by the National Defense Authorization Act and was given three years to investigate names of bases, ships and other military infrastructure that may have names related to the Confederacy. This includes the Naval Academy, which has two buildings named after members of the Confederacy — Maury Hall after Matthew Fontaine Maury and Buchanan House, named after Franklin Buchanan, the first superintendent of the academy.

The commission visited the academy at the end of August.

The commission will be making final recommendations to Congress on Oct. 1, including criteria for renaming and removing names. The commission is now seeking recommendations for names for installations and infrastructure that might be renamed, according to a press release from the commission.

The press release includes 10 Army installations and two naval vessels that are being considered: Fort A.P. Hill, Fort Bragg, Fort Lee, Fort Rucker, Fort Benning, Fort Gordon, Fort Hood, Fort Polk, Fort Belvoir, Fort Pickett, the USNS Maury and USS Chancellorsville.

Those wishing to suggest names can visit www.thenamingcommission.gov. People can then choose which installation they would like to recommend a name for from the list or select other for one that is not included. The two Naval Academy buildings are not on the preselected list.