Bannau Brycheiniog: Views on national park's name change

[Imperial Dave]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65299312

not quite historical...but there is a link to history. Really happy to see this...a much better name

[Ian61]

As a one time member of the Urdd no argument from me but have to confess a working lifetime abroad (nearly 50 miles away!) and no fluent speakers in the family anyway means my Welsh, never great is now very basic indeed.

[Imperial Dave]

so is mine....basic but serviceable

[Mark G]

Great change. 
Especially when there is an actual earlier name, it's a good thing to use it and doesn't take long to get used to.

It's the 'made up words for things that didn't exist then and now we want to replace the English word with the made up silly new word' changes I object too.
Or the 'let's have a linguistic change even though the people who spoke that language never got there to have a name for it' ones.

But replacing 'made up outcome English' names with original (relatively speaking) names is all to the good.

[Imperial Dave]

Don't mention microwaves....

[Jim Webster]

How much is it going to cost, changing all the signage and stationery? I would have though a few houses for local people or something would be a nicer idea? We get this sort of thing in the Lake District and elsewhere in the north. 'Performative activism' in that it makes somebody in an office somewhere feel better but doesn't help the people on the ground 

[Nick Harbud]

One is reminded of David Lloyd George's story of hiking in what at the time was known as Snowdonia.  Due to the descent of low cloud around the mountain he became lost and decided to ask a passing local where he might be. 

"Wales!" came the reply.

A perfect politician's answer - short, factually correct and of no use to anyone.

[Anton]

Good to see in my view. There is real history in the old names.  Worth spending a relatively small amount of money on.

[Imperial Dave]

especially Welsh placenames...they are rich in history and description

[Erpingham]

A perfect politician's answer - .

I remember there was a similar joke about some people lost in a helicopter in fog in Seattle (?) .  They fly by a tall building and ask someone on the roof where they are. "In a helicopter".  "I know where we are" says the pilot "that help was short, factually correct and of no practical use, so this must be the Microsoft building".

Anyway, back to historical names. Our "village" changed it's name in 19th century because the better off citizens didn't like the idea it was named after a pub. I don't think we'll change it back now though

[Anton]

I knew a village where the new post office sign incorrectly spelled the name of the village by one letter.  The mistake did not impact upon pronounciation in either standard English or the local dialect. The Villagers went nuts until the offending letter was removed.

In doing so they preserved a place name that went back to the early days of the Kingdom of Northumbria.

[Denis Grey]

I am quite pleased that the coming of the railway resulted in the name of the village here being changed from "Dowager's Bottom".

[Mick Hession]

In my part of Ireland a lot of more obviously colonial place names were changed after independence in 1922. Maryborough became Portlaoise, Kingstown became Dun Laoghaire etc. In most cases the new name reflected a pre-conquest toponym but the Cove of Cork (also called Queenstown) was changed to the meaningless but suitably Gaelic-looking Cobh. Which is pronounced "Cove"     

[Erpingham]

Ah, Cobh, where middle daughter was violently sick in the Titanic museum. Holiday memories to cherish 

[Justin Swanton]

Uhrreno....were the people on the ground all that keen about a name change? I mean, how many there actually speak Welsh as a first language and how many would have a clue about who Brychan was? I think there can be too much of a hang up over cultural heritage. Sort of like clapping museum glass cases over everything.

In RSA we've had plenty of name changes, especially of streets, and I never got the impression anyone wanted them. People here (blacks, Indians, whites) tend to use the old names because they have the inestimable advantage of being short. Nobody gives a toss about Dr Pixley Kaseme Street - it's still West Street whenever you give an address or directions. And Smith Street over Anton Lembede Street any day.

Is there such a thing as a short Welsh name?