The Story of a Name - Unalaska or Dutch Harbor?

Is it "Unalaska" or "Dutch Harbor"

Some folks may be confused as to the proper name of our community. The island and the town are both named Unalaska. There is a body of water called Dutch Harbor and many people refer to the town as Dutch Harbor or simply Dutch. Technically, there is no town named Dutch Harbor on Unalaska Island. 

But there are good reasons for the confusion. Shipping companies and the FAA call it Dutch Harbor. If you fly here on a commercial airline, you book a ticket to Dutch Harbor (DUT), not Unalaska. The town is on the coasts of both Unalaska and Amaknak Islands, connected by a bridge called “the Bridge to the Other Side”. Many people erroneously believe that the town on the Unalaska Island side of the bridge is “Unalaska” and the town on the Amaknak Island side of the bridge is “Dutch Harbor”. This belief is enhanced by the existence of two U.S. Postal Service offices. The post office on Unalaska Island is Unalaska, AK 99685 and the post office on Amaknak Island is Dutch Harbor, AK 99692, even though all of the community and industrial areas on both islands are encompassed by the city limits of the City of Unalaska.  So, it's really "Unalaska" but there are many who will always say "Dutch Harbor". 

Historian and Author Ray Hudson wrote the following article on the name "Unalaska":

By Ray Hudson
Unalaska Historian and Author

The name “Unalaska” does not reflect a thwarted attempt to secede from the 49th State, nor does it imply that the residents of Unalaska view their community as one that runs counter to the majority of the state, although some might.  Either of these explanations would be more interesting than the actual one which is rooted in the changes which a Native Aleut word has experienced over the last two hundred years.

Between 1890 and 1899, the United States Board on Geographic Names standardized the spelling of this town and the Aleutian island on which it is located by selecting “Unalaska” from several names that had been in use up to that time.  Variations included “Ounalashka,” “Ounalaska,” “Oonalaska,” and “Oonalashka.”  These spellings all derived from the Russian spelling of a word which was itself a shortened version of an original Aleut word: “Agunalaksh.”  Unalaska Island may have derived its name from its proximity to the Alaska Peninsula. The Aleuts call the Alaska Peninsula “Alaxsxa” or “Alaxsxix” – the “mainland.”  The Russians adopted this as “Alyaska” from which “Alaska” is derived.  Popular belief has it, incorrectly, that the name means “The Great Land” with almost sacred connotations. 

Thus “Unalaska” does not mean Not-Alaska or Not-the-Great Land.  If anything, the name defines its geographical location in terms of the Alaska Peninsula.

In fact, to compound confusion, this town has three names.  First there is “Unalaska.”  Before “Unalaska,” however, this community was known as “Iliuliuk” in Russian or in Aleut as “Iluulux” or “Illuulax.”  This early word referred to the curved approach one took in a skin boat when approaching the village.  The word may also have had connotations of “Harmony.”  In 1806 after about 50 years of sporadic fighting with local Aleuts, Nikolai Rezanov of the Russian-American Company named the community “Ddobroye Soglasiia” - the Harbor of Good Accord.  Ignoring the Russian presence, the Spanish laid a surreptitious claim to Unalaska on August 5, 1788, and called it “Puerto de Dona Maria Luisa Teresa de Parma, Princessa de Asturias.” 

The third name which is frequently applied to this community is “Dutch Harbor”.  This specific harbor is one of many within the greater Unalaska Bay and is said to have been given its name because a Dutch vessel was the first to anchor there.  The name dates from the late 18th century.  In the 1890’s a dock was built at Dutch Harbor and people sailing to Unalaska booked passage to Dutch Harbor.  During World War II the military constructed a runway at Dutch Harbor, not far from the dock.  After the war private airlines took over the airstrip and so people flying into Unalaska were ticketed for Dutch Harbor. 

Consequently, newcomers often refer to this city as “Dutch Harbor” while more permanent residents use “Unalaska” and really old-time Aleut speakers say “Ounalashka.”