In fact, the entrance and exit signals of the agglomeration will not be modified. And the official letters of the municipality will keep the mention “town of Pantin”. A communication strategy, therefore. As for the municipalities that this year, by decree, officially change their denomination, we find Bono which becomes Le Bono (Morbihan), Saint-Christophe which becomes Saint-Christophe-en-Bourbonnais (Allier), Montreuil which becomes Montreuil -sur- Mer (Pas-de-Calais), Cadillac becoming Cadillac-sur-Garonne (Gironde) and Cramchaban becoming Cram-Chaban (Charente-Maritime).
Two reasons allowed
Only two reasons are authorized to officially ask to change the name of a municipality, which the municipality of Pantin(e) has not done: the desire to return to a name whose previous use can be proven, or the need to distinguish from one or more common homonyms. For the latter case, the mayors may propose adding a geographical precision, as in the Allier to Saint-Christophe, which has become Saint-Christophe-en-Bourbonnais.
But behind the official motivations, sometimes other realities are hidden: tourism, politics or communication. “He who gives a name gains power over the thing named. It is not neutral to change the name of a municipality. This gives a special aura to the person he nominates,” notes Éric Delattre, a professor at the University of Lille and author of the article “Why change the name of a municipality? », published in The Conversation newspaper.
Modifications for tourist reasons?
And who says new name, also says new image. An image that the Municipalities have every interest in making attractive. However, “the official change of the name of a municipality cannot be authorized for reasons of tourist advertising”, insists Éric Delattre.
A strictly framed procedure, but which can be circumvented. New municipalities are not affected by these rules. “A simple prefectural decree allows you to confirm their names, since they did not exist before,” explains the researcher. Thus, the locality of Condé-Noireau (Calvados) became Condé-en-Normandie in 2016, after its merger with several neighboring municipalities. The new name is, in fact, more of a seller, and should make it possible to attract more tourists to this Normandy bocage town.
Concerning other local tourism issues, Éric Delattre quotes in his article for The Conversation the example of Châlons-sur-Marne, which officially became Châlons-en-Champagne (Marne) in 1997. He also mentions Montignac (Dordogne), which since 2020 has been called Montignac-Lascaux. As for Montreuil, officially called Montreuil-sur-Mer (Pas-de-Calais) for a few days, this allows both to distinguish the village from its namesakes but also to highlight its tourist potential.
And the departments?
Furthermore, sometimes it is not only municipalities that change their denomination, but also some departments. Thus, Charente-Inférieure (Charente-Maritime), Seine-Inférieure (Seine-Maritime), Loire-Inférieure (Loire-Atlantique), Basses-Pyrénées (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), Basses-Alpes (Alpes-de- -Haute-Provence listen) and Côtes-du-Nord (Côtes d’Armor) no longer exist with their original names. Again, rather than a name change, “at the heart of the process is a change of image”, Éric Delattre points out.
The image, this is what seems to count for the mayor of Pantin(e) as well. And if not everyone likes the communication operation, it has the merit of fueling the creativity of Internet users.
Many are those who, following the announcement by the mayor of Pantin, imagined a similar fate for Mâcon (Saône-et-Loire), Tarascon (Bouches-du-Rhône) or Juan-les-Pins (Alpes-Maritimes). . .
