Name the place

Babergh District Council wants to change its name because, apparently, people struggle to pronounce it. It’s not “Ba-burg” but rather “Bay-ber”, and can be traced all the way back to the Domesday Book of 1086. The proposed alternative is the horribly utilitarian South Suffolk Council. The name betrays the bureaucratic desire to simplify and rationalise. It must be resisted.

Unusual, even difficult, pronunciations serve a purpose: they mark out boundaries of home and unknown. When an American tourist asks for the platform to “Lie-chester”, and the guard smiles gently to himself, the tourist might feel out of place but the local feels a gush of belonging. Ba-burg can be visited by anyone, but the residents know Bay-ber best because they know how to pronounce its name properly.