Squaw Creek: Call it Whychus Creek as it flows from the Cascade Range to the Deschutes River. The new name, pronounced "why-choose," means "the place we cross the water."

And Squaw Ridge: Henceforth, Hoona Ridge, from a Paiute word for badger.

The federal board in charge of place names has given its blessings to the changes, part of state and federal initiatives to eliminate a word widely considered offensive among American Indians.

In all, 16 places in Central Oregon using the word "squaw" were changed. That is the largest number from Oregon to be approved by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, a committee of federal officials that dates to 1890 and the administration of Benjamin Harrison.

Approval was expected. Two large landowners, the Forest Service and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, had worked on the changes for several years, and a state board had given its OK.

Five years ago, the Legislature decreed that all Oregon place names using the word "squaw" would be changed. So far, the chairman of the state Geographic Names Board says, about 25 names have been charged, including the 16 announced Thursday. More than 100 remain to be changed.

"It's been much slower than I expected," said Champ Vaughn of Molalla, a geographer and retired Bureau of Land Management official. "You can't remove a name until you approve a replacement."

The replacement names have been slow in coming, and sometimes have been contentious, often accompanied by debate about etymology. Some argue that "squaw" derives from a word that means female genitalia, while others say that it comes from a similar word meaning "woman."

Vaughn and another board member, Lewis L. McArthur, said that the board can only respond to the proposals that come to it.

"I would say it's going to take another five years," said McArthur. "We're not going to go out and round up those replacement names. But we're getting a little momentum."

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