Almost two decades ago, Bert Webber proposed a new name for the marine area consisting of Puget Sound, the Strait of Georgia and the Strait of Juan de Fuca: "Salish Sea."

On Friday, Oct. 30, the retired professor of marine ecology at Western Washington University got his wish. The Washington Board of Geographic Names voted 5-1 to approve his idea. The board's counterpart in British Columbia, where much of those waters lie, also approved the new name.