Feds go along with name change for Lake Wicwas

MEREDITH — The United States Board on Geographic Names, part of the U.S. Geological Survey, has decided to conform to the local spelling of a Meredith lake.

In a letter to Scott Powell, vice-president of the Lake Wicwas Association, research staffer Jennifer Runyon wrote that the board in Reston, Virginia, approved a proposal to change the name of Wickwas Lake to Lake Wicwas on Dec. 12.

The decision comes nearly six months after New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu signed into law SB 132, a bill sponsored by Sen. Bob Guida and Meredith representatives Glen Aldrich, Harry Bean, Deanna Jurius, and Jonathan Mackie, to standardize the spelling.

The proper spelling of the Meredith lake was never a question to local residents, but the state used two spellings over the years, including on a sign alongside Route 104 indicating that it is “Wickwas Lake.” The U.S. Geological Survey also had listed it as “Wickwas Lake.”

The entirety of SB 132 states, “This bill names the lake along Route 104 in Meredith as Lake Wicwas.”

Runyon’s letter said, “The change has been entered into the Geographic Names Information System, the nation’s official geographic names registry, which is available and searchable online at https://usgs.gov/geonames.”

According to Runyon, the new entry states: “Lake Wicwas: reservoir, 351 acres; in the Town of Meredith, 1.9 mi. E of Pemingewasset Lake, 1.3 mi. S of Forest Pond; named for the Abenaki word for “head of the bay” or “swan”; Belknap County, New Hampshire; 43˚36’53”N, 71˚33’08”W; USGS map — Winnisquam Lake 1:24,000; Not: Wickwas Lake, Wicwas Lake, Wickwas Pond.”

The entry may prompt a new name change proposal: The reference to “Pemingewasset Lake” runs counter to the standard spelling of “Pemigewasset Lake” — a body of water that's known locally as Kelley Pond.