‘Enough of the jokes’: Why this town was forced to change its name – Yahoo News Australia

An Austrian town, famed for its name, will be renamed come January 1 next year, after locals reportedly got sick of English-speakers sniggering and stealing signs.

F**king, a village of some 100 people located 350km from Vienna will change its name in the new year to Fugging the local council has revealed.

The municipal council revealed the name change will take effect on January 1.

As it turns out the locals were growing tired of English-speaking tourists stopping off to take photos of the signpost to share on social media.

Theres also been reports of people stealing the signposts, so local authorities were forced to make it theft-resistant.

Andrea Holzner, the mayor of Tarsdorf, the municipality to which the village belongs, confirmed the name change, after majority of residents, known as F**kingers, decided they had enough of visitors and bad jokes.

I really don't want to say anything more - we've had enough media frenzy about this in the past," Ms Holzner told regional daily Oberoesterreichische Nachrichten (OOeN).

In 2018 the pornographic website Pornhub said it was offering free premium access to residents of F**king and towns with names such as Titz in Germany or Big Beaver in Pennsylvania, US Reuters reported.

While the village may have gained quite a bit of attention in recent years, experts believe the name dates back to the 11th century, AFP reported.

The village was first officially inhabited from around 1070, but local lore suggests that a sixth century Bavarian nobleman called Focko actually founded the settlement.

A map dating from 1825 used the spelling Fuking.

In light of the name change, people are mourning on social media with many saying the change is sad.

Today is a sad day. The Austrian village F**king is changing its name to Fugging, one person tweeted.

Story continues

You will be missed, F**king, you will be missed...

One person replied saying thankfully there was still F**kersberg, sharing a screenshot of a map of the municipality in Austria.

With AFP and Reuters

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'Enough of the jokes': Why this town was forced to change its name - Yahoo News Australia