What do you call a person from Chelsea? Municipality taking names
There's no agreed-upon choice, but the municipality is hoping to change that.
As part of the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of its founding, the municipality about 15 kilometres north of downtown Ottawa has launched an online poll to let residents declare what they'd like to be called — also known as their demonym.
"It's a nice way to rally people," Chelsea Mayor Pierre Guénard told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning, adding that Chelsea is one of the few municipalities in the Outaouais region without an official demonym.
Once all the proposals have been collected, the municipality will send them to the Commission de toponymie du Québec for comments. Then the municipal council will finally choose one demonym to officially adopt.
The provincial body doesn't assign demonyms nor officially recognize them, a spokesperson told Radio-Canada. That's the role of the municipality.
But the commission does keep a list of demonyms and adds to it whenever a municipality submits a new one, its website explains.
The commission told Radio-Canada that out of 67 municipalities in the Outaouais, 56 have at least one demonym.
Picking the perfect demonym
There are three criteria for Chelsea's new demonym, according to the municipality: It should be "gender-inclusive or gender-neutral," follow the standards of the Guide de toponymie du Québec and be "well-pronounced in both official languages."
Guénard said he's particularly cognisant of the need to find a bilingual option for a bilingual community.
English is the mother tongue for 43 per cent of Chelsea residents, while 46 per cent speak French and about 70 per cent can speak both languages, according to Statistics Canada data from the 2021 census.
"Chelsea has bilingual status but we are in the province of Quebec, so French always has to prevail," Guénard said. "So we are trying to find a name that could be well pronounced in both French or English, and that brings another level of consideration in the process."
For that reason and others, he said he's glad the online form allows citizens to offer their own proposals.
"We are hoping that the creativity of the community will bring very nice ideas," Guénard said. He wouldn't reveal which name he favours.
Here are just a few of the demonyms up for consideration:
Chelsois/Chelsoise.
Chelseacois/Chelseacoise.
Chelseaite.
Chelski.
Chelseyen/Chelseyenne.
Chelsite.
Michel Prévost, president of the Société d'histoire de l'Outaouais, told Radio-Canada in French that the municipality's name has existed since before 1875, but was only officially recognized by the province's toponymy commission in 1990.
Prévost said choosing an official demonym is an important decision.
"Once you adopt it you have to be sure to love it, because you keep it for a very long time," he said.
The public can express their preferences online until May 28. Anyone can vote, but the form prompts people to enter a postal code.
Guénard said he hopes to have chosen an official demonym by the end of the year.
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