Out: Dingle. In: An Daingean.

Earlier this year, the Irish government changed the name of the heavily-touristed city of Dingle to the Gaelic An Daingean on all of the country’s road signs and paperwork. It’s part of an effort to reclaim the nation’s native language in the wake of the British imposition of English, and it’s creating controversy among some Dingle/An Daingean residents, partially because they’re concerned that the name change will befuddle visitors.

“Local business owners say that they have worked for decades to build up that impression of a place that mixes quirkiness with tradition in a beautiful natural setting, efforts that will be damaged by the switch to An Daingean, which does not have quite the same ring as Dingle,” writes Brian Lavery in an excellent story in The New York Times. Some tourists also don’t like the change. Many of them told Lavery that they were disappointed to learn that they were in An Daingean rather than Dingle. According to Ireland Online, the locals are fighting back. They’ve begun a bumper-sticker campaign to reverse the decision handed down from Dublin. Cars around town have been spotted sporting the slogan, “If it ain’t broken, why fix it?” I see their point. The world is so much more interesting with a Dingle in it.

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