Asquith, New South Wales

An altered road-sign at nearby Strabane, County Tyrone in which the "London" in "Londonderry" has been daubed over with black paint.

The name of the city and county of Derry or Londonderry in Northern Ireland is the subject of a naming dispute between nationalists (mostly Roman Catholic) and unionists (mostly Protestant). Generally, although not always, one will find nationalists calling the city and county Derry, and unionists referring to it as Londonderry.

The most visible sign of this dispute to the visitor is in the road signage; those pointing to the town from the Republic refer to it as Derry (more specifically, Doire/Derry), whilst across the border it is written as Londonderry. It is not uncommon to see vandalised road signs—the "London" part of the name spray painted over on "Londonderry" road signs by nationalists (and often amended by unionists), or occasionally "London" added to "Derry" signs by unionists. Some sign-posts even have the "Derry" sprayed over, so that all that is left is the word, "London". This vandalism is more common the closer one gets to the city.

The debate became particularly politicised at the outset of the Troubles, with the mention of either name used to associate with one of Northern Ireland's two main communities. Unionists, who would have used the shorter name out of convenience, began using "Derry" less and "Londonderry" more frequently. Unionist politicians, especially, would rarely, if ever, let themselves be heard referring to the city as "Derry".

History of the name

The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name, Doire (pronounced /d̪ˠɪɾʲə/, meaning "oak grove"). When a new walled city was built by The Honourable The Irish Society across the River Foyle from the old site of the town, using donations from the livery companies of the City of London during the 17th century Plantation of Ulster by English and Scottish settlers, it was renamed and granted a Royal charter as the City of Londonderry. The county was created at the same time, largely based on the previous county of Coleraine. Irish nationalists, however, did not accept the change of name, stressing that Derry was the "original" English language name for the settlement.

Since 1973, the local authority covers the walled city, urban areas on both banks of the Foyle, and rural areas extending to the southeast of the city. Nationalists account for the majority of the population, and this is reflected by the fact that Nationalist political parties dominate in elections. In 1984 the city council passed a resolution under section 51 of the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972 to officially change the name of the local government district from "Londonderry" to "Derry", consequently changing the name of the council from "Londonderry City Council" to "Derry City Council". On January 24, the then-junior minister Chris Patten decided to accede to the name change, which was effected by an order coming into effect on May 7, 1984. However, the legislation does not provide that cities be automatically renamed with their districts (it does contain such a provision for boroughs). At the time of the name change, members of the majority Social Democratic and Labour Party group on the city council declared that it was not seeking to change the name of the city as it had no intention of "petitioning an English queen to change the name of our Irish city". The party preferred to leave the renaming of the city "for another day". A smaller Nationalist grouping, the Irish Independence Party, obtained legal advice that the change of the district's name also affected the city and no petition was necessary. Unionist councillors protested at the name change by boycotting the council.

Attempts at compromise

Businesses, sports clubs and other organisations in the area will frequently avoid using Derry or Londonderry in their names opting instead to name themselves after the River Foyle or simply calling themselves "North-West." This is partly so that they can avoid alienating potential customers or users from either side of the community. The Westminster and Northern Ireland Assembly constituencies, which currently have co-terminous boundaries with those of the city council, are called "Foyle", partly in order to avoid the naming controversy and also because the seat has in the past contained parts of County Tyrone. The BBC's regional radio station for the area is also named BBC Radio Foyle partly to avoid controversy.

A suggested compromise wording of "Derry/Londonderry" (read "Derry stroke Londonderry") has given rise to the ironic local usage "Stroke City". Gerry Anderson, a local radio presenter who espoused this term, became known briefly as "Gerry/Londongerry". Another locally-used method of partly circumventing this name problem is to write "L'derry" or "L-Derry". One more way around this issue has been to refer to the city as "The Maiden City", a reference to the fact that the city was not breached during the siege of 1689. This usage is common in business; for example, the Ulsterbus service from Belfast to Derry is called The Maiden City Flyer. The problem with this, however, is that due to its origin, "The Maiden City" is naturally seen as a term of pride for or by unionists and is equally naturally disdained by nationalists. Another suggested compromise involves referring to the City as "Derry" and the County as "Londonderry".

Common practice in the Civil Service and in communication throughout business and other organisations within Northern Ireland, when responding to a letter from a correspondent from the city or county, is to reply using the same nomenclature as the initial communication. Therefore, a letter addressed Derry will be replied to an address in Derry, while a letter addressed from Londonderry will be returned to an address in Londonderry. The official BBC regulations for news broadcasts is that the city should be referred to as Londonderry during the initial reference, and Derry subsequently. Other broadcasters tend to follow suit. However, RTÉ (the national broadcaster of the Republic of Ireland) along with TV3 always refer to the city as Derry.

Judicial review

In April 2006 Derry City Council applied to the High Court of Northern Ireland to obtain a ruling that the true name of the city was indeed Derry, or alternatively an order on the UK Government that it change the name. The case opened in Belfast High Court on December 6, 2006 before Mr Justice Weatherup. The council's case was that the 1613 charter naming the city "Londonderry" was subject to subsequent local government legislation, and that the renaming of the city council in 1984 amended the charter by altering the name.

Mr Justice Weatherup ruled on 25 January 2007 that the city officially remained Londonderry.

In summary I reject the applicant’s contention that the change of name from Londonderry City Council to Derry City Council under the Change of District Name (Londonderry) Order (Northern Ireland) 1984 had the effect of changing the name of the city specified in the 1662 Charter from Londonderry to Derry. Further I reject the applicant’s argument that the Department is obliged to exercise powers under section 134(1) of the Local Government (Northern Ireland) Act 1972 to modify the 1662 Charter to change the name of the city from Londonderry to Derry or that the Department is otherwise obliged to effect that name change. To achieve the name change desired by the applicant it is necessary to alter the 1662 Charter by the further exercise of the Prerogative or by legislation.

In short, the decision was that just because the council had changed its title to Derry, this did not mean the name specified by the 17th century Royal Charter was changed. The decision contains a lengthy description of the history of the issue.

In popular culture

The Divine Comedy song "Sunrise" utilises this dispute for political effect, beginning "I was born in Londonderry / I was born in Derry City too" (and a similar usage later for Enniskillen and the Irish language version, Inis Ceithleann).

Irish comedian Neil Delamere once remarked on the RTÉ show The Panel that the RTÉ pronunciation guide is effectively the same as its BBC counterpart, except the word "Londonderry", in which the first six letters are silent.

External links

• Canadian student told Derry 'didn't exist' 20 August 2007, www.derryjournal.com. Retrieved 2007-08-12.