George Everest Opposed Mountain Naming

Mount Everest bears the name of British surveyor and geographer Sir George Everest, even though he never saw the mountain, played no role in its discovery, and opposed the honor. In 1856, his protege and successor as Surveyor General of India, Andrew Scott Waugh, proposed his name after struggling to choose among the mountain's local names. The Royal Geographical Society officially renamed Peak XV as Mount Everest in 1865. Everest objected that his surname could not be written easily in Hindi or pronounced by local people, but the society retained it.

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