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McALLEN — U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, a Democrat from McAllen, is trying to protect the name of a beloved South Texas beach that was on the verge of losing its historic name earlier this month.
Boca Chica Beach, which has gained national recognition as the site of SpaceX launch sites, was proposed to be renamed to Cyber Beach after a SpaceX fan applied with the U.S. Board of Geographic Names to officially adopt the name in November 2024.
The U.S. Board of Geographic Names works with the U.S. Geographical Survey, the same entity that changed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America in compliance with an executive order from President Donald Trump.
The proposal failed after the agency’s Domestic Names Committee voted against it, but Gonzalez, whose district includes Boca Chica Beach, introduced a bill on Monday that would codify the Boca Chica name. The bill — the Hands Off Our Boca Chica Beach Act — would also require the U.S. Board of Geographic Names to notify the respective member of Congress of a name change within their district.
“It is absurd that a name proposal from outside our state was able to threaten the very essence of a cultural and historic landmark in South Texas,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “The severe lack of transparency from the Domestic Names Committee almost shut out the people of Cameron County from a decision that directly impacted our daily lives — and would have created a financial burden for local municipalities responsible for replacing signage and other publicly used identifiers.”
He added: “While our community was able to quickly band together to stop this initial proposal from being adopted, my bill would ensure that Boca Chica Beach always remains the People’s Beach.”
The name change proposal was submitted in November by Josh Hazel, a Mississippi man, according to agency records. Hazel is a member of “Starship Enthusiasts,” a group who gather at the beach in CyberTrucks to watch SpaceX launches.
OnIn his application, Hazel wrote that while the beach is referred to as “Cyber Beach” by enthusiasts, they were seeking a formal declaration “to commemorate the location where inter-planetary travel was started,” despite the fact that Cape Canaveral in Florida has historically been the U.S. hub for space exploration.
The Domestic Names Committee considered the name change proposal during a meeting earlier this month. However, the committee members unanimously denied the measure in the face of strong community opposition, having received close to 2,780 emails against the name change and one email in favor.
Anyone can propose a change for it to be voted on, said Bryan Purtell, a spokesperson for the U.S. Geological Survey, the agency that works with the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to maintain the name of the geographic places in the U.S., in a statement before the vote.
But while the name change of the gulf had Americans split, largely along political party lines, the change to Cyber Beach had very little public support outside those who proposed it.
In the lead-up to the vote, the proposal had also prompted public statements of opposition from state lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle and from the city of Starbase.
“Boca Chica Beach has been known by that name for generations,” State Rep. Erin Gamez, a Democrat from Brownsville, wrote in a letter to the committee. “Boca Chica Beach is part of the cultural and historical identity of our community, and that identity deserves to be preserved.”
Gamez was among the state lawmakers who reached out to committee on Wednesday asking the members to reject the name change or that they, at minimum, postpone the vote to allow more input from Cameron County residents.
The Boca Chica name dates back to 1936 in official government records. To change it, Gamez argued, would create logistical challenges because it would necessitate the change of public roads, maps, signs, publications and landmarks that reference Boca Chica Beach.
“Renaming the beach would inevitably require updates to public signage, maps, and official documents, imposing costs on local and state governments without any corresponding public benefit,” Gamez said.
The name change was also opposed by the Texas Geographic Names Committee, the Texas body that works with the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to standardize geographic names in the state.
The Texas committee noted the term “cyber” was widely associated with enterprises like nearby SpaceX and using it would be inconsistent with the U.S. Board’s policies.
Additionally, the Texas committee noted the lack of local support, including from the city of Starbase, which sits just inland of the beach and was incorporated last year by SpaceX employees.
State Sen. Adam Hinojosa, a Republican from Corpus Christi whose district includes Boca Chica Beach and who has been a supporter of SpaceX’s activities in South Texas, had also urged the Domestic Names Committee to reject the proposal.
“Our communities have welcomed investment, innovation, and economic growth, and I appreciate the opportunities those investments have created for South Texas,” Hinojosa wrote in a letter to the committee. “Those achievements, however, do not require replacing a historic place name that has existed for generations. Progress and preservation can, and should, exist together.”
Had the name change been approved, it would have taken effect immediately, although it would have taken time for the new name to be reflected in the Geographic Names Information System, the official record of geographic names for the federal government.
Name changes approved by the agency only affect use of the name by the federal government, Purtell said. Groups outside the federal government can decide whether to use those names or not.
Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.