In November 1939, the State Advisory Committee on Nomenclature recommended that the Perth–Albany road be named Great Southern Highway, in recognition of its importance as an arterial traffic route. This suggestion followed on from the naming of Great Eastern Highway, in April of the previous year. The committee sent letters to all the local governments in the area to advise them of the proposal. Feedback was mixed; whilst the name was "thoroughly approved" by the Tambellup Road Board, and the Perth City Council's general purposes committee recommended that no objection be raised, the Kojonup Road Board believed that "sufficient grounds not exist for the proposed change", and the Albany Municipal Council objected strongly to not retaining "Perth–Albany" in the name.