Campaign underway to reclaim the original Irish names of Ireland's cities, towns and villages

25 Apr 2026, 06:30 by Concubhar Ó Liatháin, https://www.thejournal.ie/author/concubhar-Ó-liatháin/ · TheJournal.ie

(Alt é seo ónár bhfoireann Gaeltachta. Is féidir leat an bunleagan as Gaeilge a léamh anseo .)

THE PEOPLE OF India changed the colonial name ‘Calcutta’ to Kolkata and ‘Bombay’ to Mumbai, while Wales brought the Welsh name Caerdydd to the fore over the English version, Cardiff.

Now a campaign has been launched to bring the Irish language names of Ireland’s cities and towns back into common use, in place of the English versions that are, according to some scholars, meaningless and without sense.

Names like ‘Cork, Dublin, Tipperary and Donegal’ have been a collection of words ever since they were anglicised from Irish, the poet and scholar Louis de Paor has said, as the new campaign — called AthGhaelú (Re-Gaelicisation) — was launched by Conradh na Gaeilge.

As the campaign was being launched, a software engineer in Kildare also launched an app called Baile Beo (Living Place) to help drivers travelling the roads of the country gain a better understanding of the places they are passing through and by.

At the launch of AthGhaelú, Conradh na Gaeilge deputy general secretary Aodhán Ó Deá said it was “long overdue for us to draw inspiration from other countries decolonising their place names, like India reclaiming names such as Bombay toMumbai and Calcutta to Kolkata.”

More than 100 years since independence was achieved in the south of this island, it is a shameful thing that we are still using colonial place names without meaning so widely.

“To that end we are extremely proud to launch AthGhaelú,” he said. “This campaign is about more than the use of Irish — it is about identity, ownership, and reconnection with the meaning of the places around us.

“Using Irish place names is something everyone can do, and it is a powerful way to keep our heritage alive.”

One element of this campaign is the place names pledge. Irish language groups and others have been invited to make a public commitment acknowledging that “the tradition of Irish place names in Ireland is a vitally important aspect of our shared heritage, as they give us an insight into the history and landscape of our local areas” and pledging to use Irish place names as much as possible.

Conradh na Gaeilge president Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin gave his perspective on the campaign, saying that the names had been changed to English “through a colonial process that separated people from the meaning of their own landscapes”.

“What AthGhaelú is about is bringing those names back into daily use and recognising them as a living part of our identity,” he said, referring to the example of Wales, where steps are being taken to root native place names in contemporary everyday life.

“We must do the same here,” he said.

By using Irish place names in our daily lives, we are reconnecting with the language, the landscape and the stories that shape us all.

The campaign is now underway, with messages and posts on social media from well-known figures — among them the poet Louis de Paor — calling on people to return to the original versions of the names of cities, towns and townlands across the country.

In a message published on Instagram, de Paor had this to say: “As soon as the place names were translated into a collection of meaningless symbols in English — Cork, Dublin, Tipperary, Donegal — all those words became gibberish, they have no meaning, they make no sense.

“How many people travelling north to the place called ‘Navan Fort’ in English understand Eamhain Mácha — the place where Cú Chulainn was, the place where Conor Mac Nessa had his fort?”

Further information about the AthGhaelú campaign can be found at the campaign’s website.