"Board on geographic names" refers to the board that is created by the Washington legislature to, in part, establish the procedure to retain existing geographic names and to either name or rename geographic features within the state of Washington consistent with RCW 43.30.291 through 43.30.295. The board of natural resources serves as the board of geographic names.

"Commemorative name" refers to a name or proposed name of a geographic feature, which incorporates a person's name in his or her honor.

"Committee on geographic names" refers to the committee created by the board on geographic names to help the board carry out its duties and to provide broader public and tribal participation in naming features. The committee's duties are more fully described in RCW 43.30.292 through 43.30.293.

"Diacritical marks" are symbols added to letters or names to indicate a special phonetic value or to distinguish words that are otherwise spelled the same way.

"Geographic features" include lakes, mountains, streams, places, towns and other similar features located within the state. For purposes of RCW 43.30.291, geographic features do not include human-made features or administrative areas such as parks, game reserves, and dams, but do include human-made lakes.

"Name change" means formally changing the proper name of a place, feature, or area in Washington state.

"Wilderness areas" refers to federally owned areas that are designated as wilderness areas under the Wilderness Act of 1964 (Public Law 88-577, 78 Stat. 890).