Wales or Cymru, both names refer to our country, but both have entirely different origins. One is an English word, one is Welsh or Cymraeg. A recent petition published online has gained over 3000 signatures calling us to refer to Wales as Cymru. So we speak to the people of Cardiff about their thoughts on the name change.
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00:00 I'm asking what is Cymru, but obviously you know what your country is, so I think we should
00:06 stay as Wales.
00:07 When we think of our homeland, where I am right now, it's Wales for most of us. We've
00:11 always known the UK to be made up of Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales. A new
00:16 petition though is hoping to put an end to that and ensure Wales is no longer Wales and
00:20 instead referred to as Cymru, a move that not everyone is fully on board with.
00:25 I think it would be good, but I think the question is more execution, because obviously
00:30 how do you explain to people who don't speak English, don't speak Welsh, what Cymru even
00:35 means.
00:36 It would be good, yeah. In most things, it's on most football tickets, you've got the English
00:43 way of pronunciation and the spelling and on the reverse, you've got both.
00:51 I think it should be called Wales because it's more accessible to more people, because
00:56 it's a bit more simple than just Cymru. People won't really know how to pronounce Cymru from
01:01 different areas, because it's Cymraeg. I think it'll be more accessible to other people if
01:07 it's called Wales, because it's just Wales. It's pretty straightforward.
01:11 Cymru isn't alien to most of us in Wales. We were taught it in school, we see it on
01:15 signage everywhere and the national side has used it extensively within Wales for a number
01:19 of years. Just go online and the handle @Cymru is the Welsh FA. We're all aware of the word,
01:25 but it's not used extensively here in Wales, so the petition is hoping that we can recapture
01:29 a sense of national spirit and pride in our language.
01:31 Yeah, Cymru, I think, apparently they use Cymru, I think, already, so I think it should
01:37 be the team name, yeah. I think it probably gives Wales more of an identity naturally
01:45 across the world, so yeah.
01:46 I feel like it's very important for me to do so, to sort of spread the word for our
01:51 language with the younger generations as well. I can tell you all of my kids would definitely
01:56 say that we need to call it Cymru, not Wales.
02:00 The word Wales derives from an old Anglo-Saxon word which basically means 'foreigner', even
02:05 though the Celtic tribes being described were there long before the Anglo-Saxons. Cymru,
02:09 on the other hand, means 'fellow countrymen'. So, you can see why there is some contention
02:13 with the names' origins.
02:14 I just think, like, the word Wales is an English word, whereas, you know, it's not like we
02:21 don't use the word Cymru. Like, we all know what the word Cymru means.
02:26 Highlights the importance of keeping the Welsh language alive, really, and if you can use
02:33 the Welsh football team as a vehicle to do that, then that's a good idea.
02:38 I think it should stick to Wales.
02:40 Yeah, it's just to Welsh, what everybody knows, really.
02:43 Yeah, unless you are Welsh speakers, I think then they would go for Cymru, otherwise I
02:48 think just keep it to Wales. So, whatever nationality can say it, that would be better, maybe.
02:54 Whether this petition will gain the traction necessary to implement the change, or whether
02:58 it will just get people talking, we'll have to wait and see.
03:01 James Pete Watkins, reporting from Wales. Or Cymru.
03:04 rape.