HARTFORD, Conn. – A Connecticut state senator who has named four of his children after mountains is the latest public official to oppose the name change of North America’s tallest mountain peak from Mount McKinley to Denali.
President Obama announced the change Sunday, prompting cries of complaint for politicians here in Ohio, former president William McKinley’s home state.
Republican Sen. L. Scott Frantz says all his children are named for mountains, including 17-year-old son McKinley.
Hunter Frantz is named for a mountain near McKinley, and his twin brother, Hanley, took his name from a mountain in Vermont. The boys were allowed to name their sister Brady after the New England Patriots quarterback but only after they showed their dad there was a Brady Mountain in Arkansas.
Sen. Frantz has climbed several of the world’s highest peaks, including the former Mount McKinley.
Frantz says son McKinley doesn’t plan to change his own name. He says, “Denali Frantz just doesn’t quite have the ring that he would like.”