Villagers irked by slander on hamlet`s name

London: It may sound indecent in English, but villagers in the hamlet of `Fucking` in Austria are irritated that the name has been a subject of much ridicule even as they insist that there are no plans to change the name.

The ancient village of Fucking located 4 km from the German border is a municipality of Tarsdorf in the Innviertel region of western Upper Austria. It is 33 km north of Salzburg. The village found itself the subject of much attention in the British and international news earlier this month in reports that residents wanted to vote and change the name to something less amusing (to the English-speaking people), such as Fugging or Fuking.

The village reportedly has 104 residents, who are said to be tired of tourists flocking to the place, some semi-naked women photographing themselves in strange poses besides the village signs, and others even stealing the signs.

The reports of Fucking villagers voting to change the name earlier this month prompted a wave of comments online, but while some reports insisted that there was no such plan to have a vote, others said the villagers were told that it could not be changed to `Fugging` because a village already existed by that name in the country.

According to the Daily Mirror, Austrians considering renaming their village from Fucking to Fugging had been told to think again, because the name was already taken. There was said to be another village in Austria with the name Fucking, but residents there had already bagged the name Fugging more than 100 years ago.

Fugging mayor Andreas Dockner was quoted as saying: "Nobody alive now remembers why it was changed from Fucking to Fugging, but it was and that is now our name. We think one Fugging in Austria is enough.

"The first mention of our village as Fucking was in 1195 where it was recorded in the records of the local monastery. By 1836 it was Fugging. I can`t say whether the decision to change the name from Fucking to Fugging was anything to do with embarrassment at its meaning in English but the word Fucking has been around for a long while," he added.

Fucking mayor Franz Meindl described the village as "Beautiful, it`s otherwise peaceful and we have a good community. It`s only ever the name that causes us troubles. We are very proud of our name. But it is our name now."
Residents of the village reportedly last voted on the subject in 1996 when it decided to keep the name.
Fugging mayor Dockner added: "If our village was called Fucking, I don`t think it would be a problem ? we are proud of it and I`m sure we wouldn`t change the name ? I`d advise Fucking not to change anything." PTI