The Boy Scouts of America is changing its name

The Boy Scouts of America has changed its name to Scouting America.

The name change will go into effect on the organization’s 115th anniversary on Feb. 8, 2025, according to a press release. The organization’s name was changed to reflect its “ongoing to commitment to welcome every youth and family in America.”

“Though our name will be new, our mission remains unchanged: we are committed to teaching young people to be Prepared. For Life,” Roger A. Krone, the organization’s president and CEO, said. “This will be a simple but very important evolution as we seek to ensure that everyone feels welcome in Scouting.”

The national organization, based in Irving, Texas, made the announcement Tuesday at its annual meeting.

In 2017, Boy Scouts had announced that girls would be allowed to join Cub Scouts and could earn the top rank of Eagle Scout. The organization changed its program name to Scouts BSA at that point, but did not change the name of the organization.

At the time, Lisa Margosian, chief customer officer for the Girl Scouts of America, told The New York Times that the organization felt “blindsided” by this change and pointed toward the Girl Scouts’ 105 years of supporting girls. “So much of a girl’s life is a life where she is in a coed environment, and we have so much research and data that suggests that girls really thrive in an environment where they can experiment, take risk and stretch themselves in the company of other girls.”

The next year, the Girl Scouts sued Boy Scouts of America, alleging that the program name change damaged Girl Scouts of America’s trademarks and brand identity. On July 22, 2022, the Girl Scouts put out a press release saying that it had reached an agreement with the Boy Scouts to end the trademark litigation.

The Boy Scouts organization filed for bankruptcy in 2020. Earlier this year, The New York Times reported that the U.S. Supreme Court allowed for “a $2.4 billion plan to settle sex abuse lawsuits against the Boy Scouts of America to go forward.”