More than half of all street names in Wales have no reference to the Welsh language including those which are supposedly bilingual, analysis of the country's roads reveals. But does that matter?
by Darren Waters
Almost half of all street names in Wales are in English with no Welsh translation or equivalent, analysis of Wales' more than 48,000 named streets reveals.
Welsh-only street names, with no English equivalent, account for fewer than one in five streets (18%), the deep-dive shows.
Street naming is the responsibility of Wales’ 22 local authorities and since 2015 many have adopted a bilingual policy for new street names to meet the Welsh language goals of the Well-being of Future Generations Act.
But analysis shows many new streets are still being named in English only.
The numbers reflects Wales' less than straightforward relationship to the Welsh language. Twenty nine percent of the population speaks the language according to the 2020 Annual Population Survey and the country's government has a goal of raising that to one-third, more than a million people, by 2050.
Across the country bilingual place signs are common, recognising the legal protections given to the language over the last 60-plus years, many of which were the result of pressure from those fighting to keep the language alive.
Wales' history and heritage can be seen not just in place names, but also in the streets of the country.
From Heol Pen Rhiw'r Eglwys, meaning Church at the top of the slope Road, near Blackwood in Caerphilly to Hen Ffordd Mwynglawdd, which translated means Old Mine Road but in English is known only as Old Road, streets can reflect centuries of history and important events in time, but sometimes that history can also be lost in translation.
"Every new development in Wales brings an opportunity to underline the history and character of the land on which it is built rather than erase it," said Welsh columnist and broadcaster Carolyn Hitt.
"Almost every place name in Wales comes with an anecdote that charms and intrigues – and, most importantly, makes our past ever-present and our history and identity come alive."
For every evocative street name in Wales there are many more mundane, prosaic names.
The most commonly used street names in Wales - High Street (201 occurrences), Station Road (164), Church Street (128), Bridge Street (96), New Road(94) - could as likely be found in any region or county of England.
And it is not as though the Welsh language is immune from the literal; the most common street names in Welsh are Stryd Fawr "Large Street" (68 occurrences), Pen y Bryn "Top of the hill" (27), Ffordd Newydd "New Road" (27) and Stryd y Eglwys "Church Street" (26).
However, analysis of all streets across the country reveals just how the political and cultural landscape of an area can impact the visibility of Welsh in the places people live.
Analysis of more than 48,000 streets in Wales showed:
Ms Hitt, who has highlighted in her columns the vogue for what she calls "hideous generic names for housing estates like Regency Park", said the domination of English-only street names matter because "we now are more aware of how the language has had to fight for survival and the Anglicisation of street names through the centuries reflected and contributed to its decline. We now have the opportunity to right that wrong with the naming of every new development".
Only 15 of the 22 local authorities have street naming policies highlighting their approach to planning available online, research showed.
Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Carmarthenshire, Neath Port Talbot, Pembrokeshire, Torfaen and the Vale of Glamorgan did not provide easily obtainable guidance on street naming conventions. Among the remaining 15, there were clear differences to the approaches taken:
In its report into a strategic approach to naming streets, Wales' biggest local authority Cardiff said in 2019: "Street naming is also a key element of place-making."
However, initial analysis of street names across Wales registered in the last two full years (2019 and 2020) shows 27% were in English only, despite the push by the majority to be either in Welsh only or bilingual.
Further analysis is needed given the time lag between the development of new streets and the registration on the national gazette of street names, as well as acknowledged issues with the accuracy of timestamps used by GeoPlace, the company which maintains the register.
Across Wales' 22 local authorities there are no plans to add Welsh language versions of existing street names despite the disproportionate volume of English-only names, analysis of publicly-available policy documents across the counties showed.
In its street naming strategy, Cardiff Council said: "Existing street names will remain in the 'known' existing language to mitigate potential confusion (e.g. English only or Welsh only). This removes the need for English to Welsh and Welsh to English translations for street names."
Attitudes to the value of Welsh street names is mixed across local authorities. In its guidance, Denbighshire council says: "The planning system cannot be viewed as a panacea to arrest the decline of the Welsh language."
While in Anglesey there is a contrasting view: "Preserving native and historical Welsh names along with adopting new Welsh names is an important contribution towards preserving and promoting this linguistic identity for the future."
Cardiff's council has a goal of parity between English and Welsh street names in the future. Council leader Huw Thomas told a cabinet at the launch of its naming policy in 2019: "We know Cardiff is growing and this will make sure the streets reflect the historic origins of these areas."
Yet analysis showed that in the city as of the end of 2020, just 16% of street names were either fully bilingual or completely in Welsh, while 56% were completely in English.
It's a similar picture across Wales' largest towns and cities: English-only street names dominate.
"Let’s live in a country where our road signs don’t just tell us where we’re going, they tell us where we’ve been," said Ms Hitt.