More than a year after Wyoming’s “Swastika Lake” was renamed “Knight Lake,” the community remains divided.
The name change, which took effect in January 2024, was motivated by concerns about the swastika symbol’s close association with Nazi Germany. However, some residents told Cowboy State Daily that the name should have remained, citing the symbol’s much older origins and cultural significance in parts of Asia.
“I think the lake’s name should have never been changed,” said Albany County Commission Chairwoman Terri Jones, who voted against the name change. “I think there should be a sign up there, telling what the word ‘swastika’ actually means.” She also stated that removing the name represented a missed opportunity to educate people about the symbol’s deeper meaning.
The swastika has long been used as a symbol of peace and prosperity in Asian cultures, including Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism, according to the Association for Asian Studies.
Others, such as Kim Viner of the Albany County Historical Society, backed the name change, citing the symbol’s transformation into a hate emblem during World War II. He noted that even Native American tribes that had previously used the swastika eventually abandoned it after the war.
“We [the historical society] wanted it named for a prominent Albany County person,” Viner told Cowboy State Daily. The commission ultimately decided to rename the lake in honor of Samuel Howell Knight, a geologist and paleontologist at the University of Wyoming.
Viner also noted that the origins of the name “Swastika Lake” are unknown.
Amber Travsky, another local resident, recalls being perplexed when she first heard the name of the lake, which is located within the Medicine Bow National Forest. “I thought, ‘Why would somebody name a lake that?'” she told me. “I figured the lake was shaped like a swastika. But when I got there, I realized it wasn’t shaped like that at all.
