Bill Muhlenfeld is owner and publisher of Distinctly Montana magazine and other publications. He lives in Bozeman with his partner, Anthea, and always finds time to enjoy the great outdoors, when he is not writing about it....

What's in a name? 

Well, if the name is Montana, quite a bit.  While googling "Montana" does bring up the Treasure State first in its search, more casual searches often overturn other cyber-rocks uncovering Joe Montana, Hannah Montana (sans twerking) and French Montana (who is he, anyway?).  This is especially true if the search involves news, videos or images, where Google seems a bit mnemonically challenged.

It seems that Montana could really never be called something else, though names were floated before statehood--"Shoshone," "Lincoln"--and there was a even move in the 1930's to lop off a piece of the state along with parts of Wyoming and South Dakota, to create a new state-"Absaroka."

For me, as likely for you, this annoyance is tolerable. Let's face it, Joe, Hannah and French are temporary obfuscations. The word "Montana" mostly conjures searches that relate to the Distinctly Montana masthead--Adventure.  Inspiration. Spirit.

That's enough for me.