As with most things the story is somewhat complicated.
Is Denali the Right Name? From the ADN:
It’s admirable the senators have taken up the cause to restore the name to its original. But they have the wrong name. Denali is the Koyukon name for the mountain, but, according to an earlier version of the Alaska Native Language Map, it is in Dena’ina territory not Koyukon territory. The Dena’ina name is Dghelay Ka’a. Sondra Shaginoff-Stuart says it on her denaina.kpc.alaska.edu website. Dghelay means mountain and ka’a means big — big mountain.
For Anglophones, “Dghelay Ka’a” will create some heartburn. The “gh” sound is not in English and is like a French “r.” The apostrophe represents a glottal stop, also not represented in English spelling, but it appears in words like “mountain” as it is normally said in most dialects without the “t."
