Fun fact: the Puyallup tribal alphabet wasn’t created until the mid 1800’s and was not finalized until around 1970.

So any spelling of “Tahoma” would, by necessity, be using a tribal written language that didn’t even exist when Rainier was named.

While we are busy bashing western civilization for every evil under the sun, let’s maybe stop and think about how useful English is.

Another fun fact: the Yakama tribe changed names a few years back. The tribe did not have a written language and there were several copies of the treaty. Some spelled it “Yakima”, some spelled it “Yakama.” For almost 100 years everyone was fine with Yakima, until the tribe decided it needed to be changed. The city basically said do whatever you want, we’re good. That’s why they are spelled differently.