Local history with Monica McGill: What’s in a Name?

JULIET asked “What’s in a name?” in William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet.

It’s a tragedy, filled with compounding errors and unfortunate coincidences.

It’s a good question, though: what’s important about a name?

Does it matter what anyone is called, or any place – or even how the name is spelled?

Yes. It does – at least to some people.

According to a recent article in The Echo, Tallaght Community Council were delighted when street names were put up in various places in Tallaght after they had met with our local authority.

However, their joy was incomplete.

It seems that two local thoroughfares received the same incorrect street name.

Looks like making the necessary changes may be difficult.

The article mentioned the Road Schedule Pavement Management System set up by the Roads Management Office (the RMO).

Their head office is in Milford, Co Donegal.

It seems that County Council officers are constrained by this official list of road, street and laneway names.

Obviously, it’s a document of public interest and importance.

So, what are the official street and road names in Clondalkin?

Are the official names different from the colloquial ones?

Today, locals know the names of streets in Clondalkin which don’t have name-plates any longer. What are these streets known as, officially?

The RMO list of road and street names is on https://southdublin.maproadpms.ie/

This is a sub-division of the RMO website.

However, a Username and Password is needed – which the author doesn’t have and didn’t have the courage to “chance it”.

Maybe it is publicly accessible after all.

There was a tantalising invitation to email the RMO, but courage failed here too.

Efforts to access our local Road Schedule on the SDCC’s website were equally fruitless.

Knowing about the Road Schedule is a bit like the Third Secret of Fatima.

You’re told it exists, but you don’t know for sure what it actually contains.

Does the Road Schedule control only our road and street names?

Then, a bit of a break-through.

Simply “Googling” SDCC’s Road Schedule produced a draft list, available via Wiki, last edited c. 2015.

This source aims to supply the name of every street, road and laneway in the world.

This draft Road Schedule lists thoroughfares in order of size, starting with the major national roadways.

Each has a space showing the road’s official name, length, its spelling in English, and a narrative of where it officially begins and ends.

The list isn’t sorted by local area.

The roadways’ only common link is their status.

Checking the draft Roads Schedule for familiar roads and streets produced a few surprises.

One of the main roads in Clondalkin village is reduced to the status of a Lane (not a Road, as it’s usually known) despite the large volume of traffic using it daily.

A local man said years ago that this Road was a Lane.

He was disbelieved then; less so now.

Another well-known road wasn’t found in the draft list at all.

There were other “discrepancies” in this draft.

Not all the data had been completed in many cases (length, points where a road starts and finishes).

In a quirk of extreme local knowledge (possibly now lost due to anno Domini) some roads start at the house of [Family Name written] and end at the house of [Different Family Name written].

A genealogist’s nightmare.

Of course, it’s just a draft Roads Schedule; it’s not reliable.

Isn’t it a pity that the finished, completed, informative, wonderful Road Schedule is not easily accessible on the SDCC website for the interested public?

Could this situation be changed, perhaps? Please? Soon? Hold on.

Does An Post have a reliable list of road names that’s available to the public?

Doubtless our County Council’s deciding officers do their best to name our streets and roads correctly, but sometimes the Donegal Diktat and the individual Officer’s local knowledge (if they have it) may clash.

What can they do?

Likewise, the people putting up the street name in Tallaght perhaps had to follow the instructions they were given, even if they had known or suspected something was wrong.

So far, only the English language version and data have been mentioned.

We’re into a whole other world when it comes to An Gaeilge, with its nuances so aptly and expertly conveyed in so few words.

Apparently, the official Irish-language version of placenames are on a separate list, in pdf format, published by SDCC.

Its title is Logainmneacha agus Sráidainmneacha Bhaile Átha Cliath Theas.

Remain calm if you don’t speak the State’s First Language: the English translation is South Dublin Placenames and Streetnames.

It’s available online HERE.

The acknowledgements and introduction are in Irish, without an English translation, in the online edition available.

The SDCC’s Logainm’s task is to concentrate on the Irish-language version of street and road names in the area under SDCC’s control.

Helpfully, it simply lists the English-language variations of spellings and gives a consistent Irish version (for instance, ‘Bridget’s’ and ‘Brigid’s’ are both translated as ‘Bhríde’).

A very interesting document to browse, and very useful.

However, the best place to find road names, street names and their locations on a map seems to be an online database, also confusingly called Logainm, available HERE.

No logins, no passwords required, although it lacks the depth of information found in the draft Roads Schedule.

It would be interesting to compare them.

Check it out.

There’s a wealth of information in the Logainm database about your local area.

The historical background of the list, its many reliable sources, the government support, agus mar sin de, mar a deir siad, are impressive.

So, “what’s in a name?”

Plenty, Miss Juliet! Place-names are important.

The place can give rise to the old name it carried, which in turn can let the visitor know what to expect.

Brideswell Common contained a paragraph of information in just two words.

Can you think of any others?