Vox's mess with place names: from 'Tarrasa' and 'La Seo de Urgell' to a disparate Catalanization

BarcelonaTerrassa, Figueras, Roses, Cubellas, Girona, Lleida, La Seu d'Urgell or a region like theEmpordà. Since its inception, Vox has used Catalan place names in Spanish, although they have not been officially adopted since the standardization that came about in this field following the end of the Franco dictatorship. The far-right Spanish-speaking party continues to use some, especially in the case of Lleida and Girona, but in the last two years, amidst a toponymic mess with several persistent contradictions, it has taken a step back. Thus, it has opted to abandon several Castilian place names in favor of Catalan ones, in a partial Catalanization that coexists with bizarre exceptions. This slightly changes the attitude of an organization that has defended and defends the imposition of Castilian place names in Catalonia, along with the native form, and which has even taken this battle, unsuccessfully, to Congress with an initiative this term to make Lérida official, but also Orense or San Sebastián.

Now, the question that arises is why before 2023 they officially said Terrace And now the bet is on Terrassa, and they have removed the strange Castilian toponym from the local Vox group in the city; why has the same thing happened with Figueres and partially with Roses – which on Facebook remains Roses, but not in the communications it makes–, and why it banishes the toponym of Cubellas while still opting for Girona either Lleida. All this, while throughout the Valencian Community they have started a battle to impose Castilian place names from Burriana to Castelló, most recently in Valencia and from other localities, where they exclusively opt for names foreign to the local tradition such as Jávea, Játiva, and in the Balearic Islands they fight to impose Mahón in the city of Mahón, in addition to promoting Palma de Mallorca instead of Palma, among others.

Sources from Vox consulted by ARA confirm the "volatile criterion" on this issue, which they recognize as thorny, also internally. On the one hand, they point out that they intend "to be able to say in both languages," also officially, "those that can be said." But some of them "the language doesn't accept them or they sound very bad," that is, even they grate on it: "Neither Saint Cucufate [for Sant Cugat del Vallès] nor Old City [for Ciutat Vella] nor Saint Quirico [for Sant Quirze]". Therefore, it must sound good and they understand the recent changes for several reasons: "People's identification with the place names is taken into account" and the fact that "the [local] coordinator is in charge" in this matter.

This is why they say Lleida and Girona in Spanish, just as they transform Sant Boi de Llobregat into Saint Baudilio or Vilanova and la Geltrú in Villanueva and Geltrú. According to the RAE (Royal Spanish Academy of Spanish), "Spanish speakers may use, where available, the Spanish form of geographical names and transfer those toponyms that have a unique expression, whether Catalan, Galician, or Basque." A difficult conjunction in which the classic exonyms of recognized cities or places coexist with the translations spread by the Franco regime as well as by its predecessors.

On this matter, however, Vox admits that "in Catalonia, toponyms [in Spanish] are not taken very naturally" and that sometimes it seems that "translating them into Spanish offends" a part of society. However, regarding the way they name towns and cities, Vox has also had internal debate, and prominent members have made it clear in Madrid that many toponyms cannot be translated, given the belief that all can be Castilianized.

Eccentric Names

On July 15, 2023, Vox Lleida apologized to a user for a "mistake": he had said "The Cathedral of Urgell" rather "The Cathedral of Urgell". But the truth is that currently, in the Principality, Catalan La Seu d'Urgell is the most widely used in the formation, which has not prohibited the second option. Nor "the Plain of Urgel" or theEmpordà that the deputy for Girona Alberto Tarradas has even used to make wordplay contrasting the region with "Islam". At the national level, they had even made translations in the style of "Saint Peter and Saint Paul" for Saint Peter and Saint Paul. In any case, they say Cerdanyola del Vallès, but they defend Cornellà de Llobregat, as the local PP does, in a chaos that swings between the Spanish toponymic defense made by entities such as Hablamos Español and a commitment to using Catalan more in the Parliament and highlighting symbols like the senyera –while all party communications are in Spanish–, in the midst of the dispute over the Islamophobic vote with the Catalan Alliance.