Naming of MTNS?

Was having a discussion with a friend over the weekend about how Mountains got their names, and one mystery we were unable to solve was how it was determined where "Mountain" goes in the name. Most are named with it at the beginning of the name (Mt Everest, Mt Athabasca) but there are others where the order is reversed (Castle Mtn, Whiteface Mtn).

Any thoughts here? The best we could come up with was that the former were all named after people, while the latter are more descriptive (i.e., Castle Mtn looks like... a castle). But that's not a hard and fast rule (e.g., Gore Mtn in NY).

Sound off.

I don't think there are or were any rules, but your theory definitely makes sense and fits a good proportion of named peaks. Near Durango, there is a mountain called Engineer Mountain, named after the Army Corps of Engineers, but it's original proposed name was Mt. Ruffner after Lt. E.H. Ruffner. There's also a mountain near here called Ute Mountain, or the sleeping Ute, named by the Ute people. Hmm, conundrum, but like I said, probably no specific rhyme or reason. Probably whatever sounded better.

I have been curious as to that for a while. I tried seeing if it was because of names before or after, if it was when the peak was shot and mapped, if it was based off the guy naming things, the era in which they were "discovered". I can't find any correlation within the data that I have looked at.

I did come across a bit of information that there was apparently a rule that peaks(eg - Peak 12548) weren't named because they weren't the prominent landmass on a ridge. That naming convention seems to have gone out there window too. Around Mt. Evans there are a number of named peaks that follow all conventions (Square Top Mountain, Mt. Bierstadt, Peak 12345). One of the funny things is that there are named peaks with lower elevations than numbered peaks that sit on the same ridge.

My best guess is that mountains are named with good phrasing. Who wants to say "Lets go to Mountain Castle!"

An interesting case study in the phenomenon of Mount____ vs. ____Mountain is Mount Wilson and Wilson Peak near Telluride. Both are 14ers within a few miles of each other. My guess is some guy named Wilson had a really big ego. He needed to have 2 mountains named after him.

The naming pattern _______ peak seems to go with someone's name; Hallett Peak; Pike's Peak; Long's Peak ...oops, but there are exceptions! Pyramid Peak. Damn those mountain climbers and their rule breaking.