{"id":20272,"date":"2014-04-03T00:08:42","date_gmt":"2014-04-02T22:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=20272"},"modified":"2014-06-17T18:18:50","modified_gmt":"2014-06-17T16:18:50","slug":"who-changed-the-names-of-the-parisian-neighborhoods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/who-changed-the-names-of-the-parisian-neighborhoods\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Changed the Names of the Parisian Neighborhoods?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you know that the\u00a0names of many French cities were once completely changed, practically du jour au lendemain<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>(overnight)?<\/p>\n

Some of them had their age-old names simply canceled, such as\u00a0Marseille<\/strong>, which became known as “Ville-sans-Nom<\/strong><\/em>” (“City-without-a-Name”)!<\/p>\n

When did took place?<\/p>\n

During the tumultuous times of\u00a0la R\u00e9volution fran\u00e7aise<\/em><\/strong>, when the government decided the sudden\u00a0d\u00e9christianisation<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>of\u00a0<\/strong>the country that was formerly known\u00a0as\u00a0“la<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0fille a\u00een\u00e9e de l’\u00c9glise<\/b><\/em>” (“the eldest daughter of the Church.”)<\/p>\n

Anything that smelled religion (such as “Saint-” something) or reminded people of the Ancient R\u00e9gime<\/em><\/strong> had to be completely obliterated from the memories of the French people.<\/p>\n

Today, we’ll go through five well-known parts and\u00a0suburbs of Paris that lost their names—just provisoirement<\/strong><\/em> (temporarily), dieu merci<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>(thank God):<\/p>\n