Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney face being told to rename Wrexham

16 November 2023 , 21:11

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Ryan Reynolds could be forced into changing Wrexham's team name (Image: GETTY)

Wrexham co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney face the prospect of renaming their club because of a petition calling for Welsh place names to replace their existing English versions.

In the Welsh language, the city's title is spelled Wrecsam . It is one of several places across the country that could face a change, including tourist towns Barry and Caerphilly, which may soon be known as Barri and Caerfilli .

If the petition proves successful, Wrexham would be the club most affected by such a change. Championship teams Cardiff City and Swansea City, plus Wrexham's League Two rivals Newport County, do not face the same uncertainly as the Welsh names of those three cities are deemed too different from their English spellings.

Cardiff ( Caerdydd ), Newport ( Casnewydd ) and Swansea ( Abertawe ) are seemingly deemed too different, according to the government's place name standardisation guidelines. But, as the difference between Wrexham and Wrecsam is within the stated "one or two letters" range, the Welsh Language Commissioner recommends that the Welsh form gets preference.

A petition titled "Use only Welsh names for places in Wales" has now been presented to the Welsh Parliament, known as the Senedd, by linguist Mihangel ap Rhisiart. It received almost 1,400 signatures before being closed last month after surpassing the 250 threshold that merits discussion by the Petitions Committee.

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It has already led to Welsh Language Minister Jeremy Miles acknowledging that there is "a strong argument" for only using Welsh place names in certain instances. Welsh Language Commissioner Efa Gruffudd Jones has previously promoted the principle.

Reynolds and McElhenney have already changed the Racecourse Ground's name and now could also be renaming the club (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)

The petition states that it is "in a spirit of respect for Wales as its own nation with its own history and culture; and as a mark of acknowledgement concerning some of the cultural oppression that has historically been inflicted on Wales and her language and culture."

It continues: "English names might initially continue to be used by some out of habit, but in all official avenues and in both spoken and written media, the original Welsh names for places in Wales should be used.

"Following moves concerning the names of Eryri and Bannau Brycheiniog, we consider it an opportune moment to move to using only the Welsh names for places in Wales." As it alludes to, the country's northwestern national park is now known officially as Eryri rather than Snowdonia.

Similarly, South Wales' national park is named Bannau Brycheiniog instead of the Brecon Beacons. The former change came in November 2022, with the latter following in April of this year. Whether this leads to Wrexham's football team changing its name remains to be seen.

However, the club's historic Racecourse Ground changed its name to STōK Cae Ras this summer because of a sponsorship deal with beverage brand STōK Cold Brew Coffee. The new name notably features the Welsh name for the world's oldest international football stadium, Y Cae Ras.

Matthew Abbott