AUGUSTA (AP) – Gov. John Baldacci on Monday signed a bill to tighten a nine-year-old law that bars the use of the word “squaw” for official place names. The word is offensive to Native Americans, who say it’s degrading to women.

After Maine’s law took effect, Big Squaw Mountain in Greenville became Big Moose Mountain; Squaw Pond became Sipun, the Passamaquoddy Indian word for blackfly; and a couple of dozen other names were changed.

But there have been efforts in some communities to end-run the restriction by using shorter versions of the word, such as “Squa,” or combining it with another word to form place names. In northern Maine’s Aroostook County, a lake near Mapleton remained Squapan Lake. And in coastal Stockton Springs, a local homeowners’ group objected to the renaming of Squaw Point to Defence Road.

Paul Bisulca, chair of the Maine Indian-Tribal State Commission, told lawmakers earlier this year that “no matter how you spell it, with or without a ‘w,’ squaw is squa.”

He asked the Judiciary Committee to “do what should have been done nine years ago.”

The new law prohibits any derivation “squaw” or “squa” as a separate word or part of a word in a place name.

Nicholas Smith, a Maine Indian researcher from Brunswick, told lawmakers that the word squaw is an Anglicized derivation of an Algonquin word for female that became “a popular racial slur degrading and dehumanizing Indian women.”

Several others states and some Canadian provinces prohibit the name, long used for mountains, lakes, townships and other sites.

In signing the bill Monday, Baldacci said Maine “is a welcoming community” that supports tolerance and respect.

“Every Maine person and every Maine community deserves to be treated with dignity,” Baldacci said.

Joining Baldacci at the signing was the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Wayne Mitchell of the Penobscot Nation, and co-sponsors of the legislation. The bill was supported by several religious organizations, the Maine Human Rights Commission and the Maine Women’s Lobby.