Merger, removal of duplicates, many municipalities are changing their names at the start of the year. You may be affected by this change in your address.
24 new municipalities were created in France this Wednesday, January 1, 2025, according to the Official Journal. Their appearance follows mergers of already existing municipalities. These groupings make it possible to make savings by bringing together human and financial resources. Ile-de-France, for example, has just seen its second largest municipality with 150,000 inhabitants submerged. It was born from the merger between Saint-Denis and Pierrefitte-sur-Seine in Seine-Saint-Denis.
Cugand-La Bernardière (Vendée), Saint-Jean-d’Hermine (Vendée), Pern-Lhospitalet (Lot), Caychax-et-Senconac (Ariège), Magnac-lès-Gardes (Charente), Aunac-sur-Charente ( Charente), Eternoz-Vallée-du-Lison (Doubs), Bussus-lès-Yaucourt (Somme), Verdun-Ciel (Saône-et-Loire), Rives-de-Boutonne (Charente-Maritime), Saint-Martin-de-May (Calvados), Victot-en-Auge (Calvados), Sauzé-entre-Bois (Deux-Sèvres), Porte-de-Benauge (Gironde), Belles-Fontaines (Haute-Saône), Colombine (Haute-Saône), Saillans (Drôme), Val-d’Aguernon (Côtes-d’Armor), Les Deux-Rives (Puy-de-Dôme), Cap d’Astarac (Gers), La Côte-Saint-Didier (Loire), Solore-en-Forez (Loire ) and Lunas-les-Châteaux (Hérault) are also among the new arrivals.
If certain municipalities appear, others change their name. Since 1943, no less than 1,387 French communes have changed their name. The two reasons which allow such a change are “to avoid a serious risk of homonymy with one or more other communities or to re-establish a historical name which has fallen into disuse”, as explained on the government site collectivites-locales.gouv.fr.
According to the Official Journalat the start of 2025, several municipalities are once again concerned. Some seek to differentiate themselves, others return to older spellings. For example, Grigny in the Rhône had the same name as a commune in Essonne, so it became Grigny-sur-Rhône. So too, Rousset located in the Hautes-Alpes department was transformed into Rousset-Serre-Ponçon, in reference to the lake which borders it, to differentiate itself from its namesake in Bouches-du-Rhône. The same goes for the towns of Faux, Le Vigan and Roche which specify their location in their new name: Faux-en-Périgord, Le Vigan-en-Quercy and Roche-en-Forez.
Saint-Christophe-sur-Dolaison in Haute-Loire transforms into Saint-Christophe-sur-Dolaizon, not to differentiate itself but to return to its original spelling which relates to the river which crosses it. Change of spelling also for Montcourt-Fromonville in Seine-et-Marne becoming Moncourt-Fromonville, which corresponds to its name during the French Revolution. The Cheix commune has also decided to return in 2025 to its old name, which it had until 1800, namely Cheix-sur-Morge. It will therefore now be necessary to ensure that the correct names of municipalities are put on envelopes or administrative papers.