What’s in a name? A huge amount when one considers how naming wars have become the new frontline in the culture wars.
As a country Ireland has a long history of name changes most of them carried out uncontroversially and with little rancour.
In the War of Independence period, there was a huge number of Irish places that shed their colonial associations.
In 1920, Kingstown Urban District Council forced through a change which saw Kingstown become Dún Laoghaire, the original name until it was changed in 1821 for a visit by King George IV to Ireland.
READ MORE
In the same year, Queenstown became Cobh, King’s County became Offaly and Queen’s County became Leix, later Laois, in 1922.
One of the first actions of the Irish Free State government was to change Dublin city’s main thoroughfare, Sackville Street, to O’Connell Street which it did in 1924.
Yet, so embedded were British originated placenames in Ireland that renaming could only go so far. This is why Westmoreland Street, Grafton Street, Marlborough Street and Dawson Street, among many others, carry the names of long-forgotten Anglo-Irish denizens.
The difficulties in renaming places was illustrated by a campaign in 2017 by the then Independent Cork councillor Diarmaid O’Cadhla who wanted places associated with the city’s British heritage, the English Market, Victoria Road and Marlboro Road changed because of their colonial associations. His campaign got nowhere.
A worldwide decolonialisation campaign which began during the Black Lives Matter protests moved to Ireland. There was a campaign to push for places associated with those who were involved in the slave trade changed.
Among the places targeted were La Touche House, named after the Irish private banking family that kept slaves, Westmoreland Street, named after John Fane, the 10th Earl of Westmorland, who was a defender of slavery and the Berkeley Library in Trinity College Dublin (TCD).
The library, which was named after the philosopher George Berkeley, who kept slaves, was changed to the Eavan Boland Library last year following a public consultation.
While there are no proposals to change the name of Westmoreland Street, the controversy over his association with slavery did see Marriott, the owners of the former Westin Hotel, change their mind over renaming the hotel. It was supposed to be the Westmoreland Hotel, but Marriott demurred when the connection with slavery was made known to them. Instead, it is called the College Green Hotel.
No renaming, though, has been as controversial as the recent proposal to rename Herzog Park. The park was opened on November 10th, 1995 just a week after the assassination of Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin.
There was no controversy over its original naming as it occurred two years after the Oslo Accord when there was relative peace between Israel and Palestine.
Many were proud of the fact that the then president of Israel Chaim Herzog was born in Ireland and brought up in Dublin. Dublin Corporation even broke its own protocols in naming the park after a living person, as the rule of thumb was that somebody had to be dead for 20 years to have a place named after them.
Relations between Ireland and Israel were much better 30 years ago than they are today. The then lord mayor of Dublin, Seán Loftus, expressed a hope that peace would be brought to both Ireland and Israel.
While peace did come to Ireland, it did not come to Israel, hence the continuing controversy over the name Herzog Park.
The Fianna Fáil TD Malcolm Byrne has drafted a Bill to rename Dublin Airport, Seán Lemass Dublin International Airport. Given Lemass’s service to aviation as minister for industry and commerce and his time as taoiseach, you might think the Bill would be relatively uncontentious.
But, if precedent where it comes to re-naming is a guide, that may turn out not to be case.
Have Your Say: If you feel some Irish streets, roads and public spaces should be renamed, you can share your suggestion using the form below and with a brief explanation.
