Proponents of changing the name of the body of water behind Glen Canyon Dam along the Utah-Arizona border argued that calling it a "lake" does not accurately define its birthright and that the Lake Powell moniker duplicates the name of a small natural lake on a Colorado peak that drains into the same watershed.

But staff to the U.S. Board of Geographic Names say that, in discussions before today's session in Florida, board members determined neither of those arguments was significant enough to warrant renaming the internationally recognized recreation oasis on the Colorado Plateau, christened for frontier explorer John Wesley Powell. More than 30,000 of the approximately 75,000 reservoirs in the United States are named with the generic term "Lake," according to a staff report to be presented to the board. The briefing also notes the board's 1959 vote to name the reservoir "Lake Powell" pre-dated the board's 1961 approval of the name "Powell Peak" for the Colorado summit where the smaller Lake Powell is located. The board received 163 e-mail messages and letters on the proposal, and all but 13 were opposed. Opposition also was expressed in petitions bearing thousands of signatures and hundreds of ballot-style comment forms solicited by the board. The number of comments is believed by board staff to be the most received on any naming request before the board, which began officially dubbing geographic features in 1890.

''To have this many responses is highly unusual,'' said Roger Payne, executive secretary to the board. ''Because of the overwhelming opposition, I don't anticipate there will be much discussion by the board on this request.''

The renaming proposal was submitted last year by the Coalition to Rename Lake Powell, an alliance of environmental organizations including the Utah-based groups Living Rivers, Colorado Plateau Guides, Utah Environmental Congress and the Glen Canyon Institute. Testifying earlier this month to the Arizona State Board of Geographic Names, coalition leader Nancy Jacques, of Durango, Colo., refuted arguments that the renaming campaign was a thinly veiled first step toward public acceptance of decommissioning the dam and draining Lake Powell to reclaim the long-submerged canyon country.

''Whether or not a reservoir is good or bad is not the issue,'' said Jacques. ''The water body in question today exists. What best describes it?''

But most opponents urged the panel to recognize the request as part of a long-standing effort to pull the plug on Lake Powell.

''Draining a reservoir for their self-serving purposes must seem more 'romantically' acceptable than draining a lake,'' wrote Joyce Logan, of Kanab.

While most of the interest came from the Mountain West, the question of renaming Lake Powell drew responses from around the country.

''Throughout history, authoritarian regimes such as the Soviets, the Nazis and both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have used place names to advance ideas and images,'' wrote Gary Shepard, a Penn State geography graduate student. ''The renaming of Lake Powell would be no different.''

Letters of opposition also came from dozens of Western water boards, all of the federal land management agencies, regional tourism bureaus and chambers of commerce, and the entire Utah congressional delegation. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, called it an ''unmeritorious request'' while Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, said it ''serves no public purpose, is a disservice to the history of the region and should be rejected.''

Wrote Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.: ''It seems the name change would only serve to aggravate the long-standing debate over the construction of Glen Canyon Dam without any practical benefit. It would still be known as Lake Powell to the many Arizonans and others that have enjoyed this resource for so many years.''

The name change request prompted an unusual expression of opposition from within the U.S. Geologic Survey (USGS), the federal agency that sponsors the Board of Geographic Names.

The USGS and the board's offices are headquartered in the John Wesley Powell Federal Building in the Washington suburb of Reston, Va. Powell is a founding father of the USGS and is largely seen as its spiritual figurehead. A recent lecture in the employee auditorium at USGS headquarters included a historian dressed in frontier-era garb discussing the daring exploits of the one-armed major and his pioneering 1869 navigation of the Colorado River.

''It seems spurious to change the name of such a popular and well-known feature based solely on the desire of such a small organization, rather than on the desires of the general public,'' wrote Susan Haseltine, USGS associate director for biology.

But there were a handful of Westerners who told the board that a man-made lake which drowned the wild Colorado River is not the proper commemoration of Powell's legacy of Western settlement.

Glen Canyon Reservoir would be ''definitely more appropriate,'' wrote Rob and Eve Gill of Prescott, Ariz. "The reservoir is no tribute to John Wesley Powell."