Are we in Mons or Bergen? Welcome to Belgian places with double names
Finding your way around Belgium comes with an extra challenge, as many places have two names, in Dutch and French – and sometimes even a third in German. As the names don’t always resemble each other, many visitors and even Belgians have no idea they refer to the same spot. Belga English tries to clear up some of the confusion.
For many visitors or new arrivals to Belgium, the trouble starts on the train, on the way to the country’s largest and busiest train station. Should they get off at Brussel-Zuid or Bruxelles-Midi? Even if you understand some Dutch and French, there is nothing embarrassing about this confusion.
After all, how are you supposed to know that Brussels-South (Zuid in Dutch) station was named in French after “Le Midi”, the French name of the region of southern France – as this was the final destination of the trains departing from the station in the 19th century?
Getting around bilingual Brussels can be tricky as well. Sure, you won’t even notice the “e” that makes up the difference between Schaarbeek and Schaerbeek or Laken and Laeken, and it’s not complicated to understand that Sint-Gillis is the same as Saint-Gilles and Sint-Jans-Molenbeek as Molenbeek-Saint-Jean.
Many concert-goers might be unsure if Vorst is indeed the same place as Forest – on their way to the Vorst Nationaal/Forest National venue. But probably the biggest disorientation is seeing the names Elsene and Ixelles side by side.
Many exceptions
The language divide widens outside the capital, however, where place names are generally only written on road signs and announced over speakers in the language of the region. So it can be a challenge to find your destination in Flanders if you only know the French name of the town or city – and vice versa.
While most places do have the same or a similar name, the list of exceptions is still long. When considering the bigger cities, a few are mildly confusing: Antwerpen/Anvers, Gent /Gand and Liège/Luik for example.
To recognise that Mechelen and Malines are one and the same is more difficult, just as not everyone realises that Bastogne is also Bastenaken and Tournai is Doornik. While Leuven and Louvain sound similar, Louvain-la-Neuve is another – much “newer” – city altogether.
The most “problematic” among the bigger cities in Belgium is Mons, aka Bergen. Apart from a single letter, the names don’t seem to have anything in common, but they actually have the same meaning.
While “Mons” originated from the Latin for “mountain”, “Bergen” is the actual Dutch word for “mountains”. So, both names refer to the city’s location, which is not really on a mountain – as there are none in Belgium – but on a hilly terrain.
In the Flemish countryside, the very dissimilar twin names of Scherpenheuvel also refer to its location in a hilly environment. Both Scherpenheuvel and its French counterpart, Montaigu, mean “sharp” – pointed or prominent – hill.
The origin story of the town has an additional dimension. The eponymous hill became well known in the 16th century because of a statue of Mary that hung from an oak tree there. It marked the beginning of the town’s reputation as a pilgrimage site, which it still is today.
The list of confusing double names of Belgian towns is much too long to mention in its entirety, but there are a few worth mentioning. Near Brussels, there are quite a few remarkable examples of the language gap: Jezus-Eik/Notre-Dame-au-Bois, Braine-l’Alleud/Eigenbrakel and Dworp/Tourneppe.
Away from the capital, in Flanders, it’s worth noting the difference between the names of the popular seaside resort De Haan and Le Coq, which both refer to the same animal: a rooster. The French-speaking name of Borgloon is also not an obvious one: it’s Looz.
In Wallonia, Soignies’ Dutch name, Zinnik, won’t spring to mind immediately. But the cream of the crop in Wallonia is likely Tourinnes-la-Grosse, which you’ll find as Deurne on a Dutch-language map. To make matters worse, Deurne is also the name of a district of Antwerp and a small town in Flemish Brabant. So, if you need to be in Deurne, you’d better triple check which one.
Liège or Luik?
And as German is also an official language in Belgium, some places have a name in a third language. While the differences with the Dutch name are often minimal, as is the case for Brussel/Brüssel and Brugge/Brügge, the difference between German and French can create more confusion.
Halanzy/Holdingen and Nobressart/Elchenroth are good examples of the latter. But the German name of Liège/Luik can make everyone wonder. As one Reddit user put it, it can take many years to realise “that Lüttich is, in fact, not a German border city”.
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