On the surface, the notion that we should change the name of the Strait of Georgia seems like a handy way to recognize that this area was home to a thriving community centuries before the first European explorers happened upon the scene.

Aboriginal Relations Minister Mike de Jong says he likes the sound of Salish Sea, the name that has been proposed to replace Strait of Georgia.

The name would help describe the body of water, he says, while acknowledging that our history did not begin just 150 years ago.

That's true, as far as it goes. But it's hard to accept the idea that we might wipe out a name rich with history to put in place a name with no direct history. The Coast Salish people lived all around the strait, but they didn't call it the Salish Sea.

At one time, the body of water was known as "Sqelatses," which means home in Coast Salish Halkomelem and Sencoten. Another indigenous name was "khWuhlch," also written "Whulge."

Then the Spaniards arrived and things started to change. In 1791 they called it "Gran Canal de Nuestra Señora del Rosario la Marinera." The following year Capt. George Vancouver gave it the name "Gulphe of Georgia" in honour of King George III.

The name was changed to "Gulf of Georgia" in 1800, then "Strait of Georgia" in 1865. That name was formally adopted by the federal government on March 6, 1913.

Click here to read the complete column in the Times Colonist.