Derry-Londonderry name dispute

The names of the city and county of Derry or Londonderry in Northern Ireland are the subject of a naming dispute between Irish nationalists and unionists. Generally, although not always, nationalists favour using the name Derry, and unionists using Londonderry. Legally, the city and county are called "Londonderry", while the local government district containing the city is called "Derry and Strabane". The naming debate became particularly politicised at the outset of the Troubles, with the mention of either name acting as a shibboleth used to associate the speaker with one of Northern Ireland's two main communities. The district of Derry and Strabane was created in 2015, subsuming a district created in 1973 with the name "Londonderry", which changed to "Derry" in 1984.

The earliest Irish name for the site of the modern city was Daire Calgaich, Old Irish for "oak wood of Calgach", after an unknown pagan. John Keys O'Doherty, Bishop of Derry, sought to identify Calgach with Agricola's opponent Calgacus. A Celtic Christian monastery was founded there in the sixth century;Adomnán names Saint Columba as founder. The name was changed to Daire Coluimb Chille, "oak wood of Columba", first mentioned in the Annals of Ulster for 1121. As the monastic site grew in prominence, the name was reduced to just Doire (now pronounced [d̪ˠɪɾʲə]). This was later anglicised to Derry. In 1604, "Derrie" was granted its first royal charter as a city by James I of England. The settlement was destroyed in 1608 by Cahir O'Doherty, Irish chieftain of Inishowen. During the Plantation of Ulster by English and Scottish settlers, a new walled city was built across the River Foyle from the old site by the Irish Society, a consortium of the livery companies of the City of London. In recognition of the London investors, the 1613 charter stated "that the said city or town of Derry, for ever hereafter be and shall be named and called the city of Londonderry". The county was created by the same charter, largely based on the previous county of Coleraine, and named "Londonderry" after the new county town so officially there never was a County Derry. A new city charter in 1662 confirmed the name "Londonderry".

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