UNUSUAL. The village voted: we finally know what the names of these residents who no longer wanted the nickname “Culs Brûlés” will be.

It is a suspense which lasted several weeks which has just ended this Saturday, November 2 in Olley, a small rural town in Meurte-et-Moselle, agitated by a completely unusual question: what should we call its inhabitants ? Because Olley did not have gentilé, this term which designates those who live in a locality, like Montpelliérain for Montpellier, or Spiripontains for Pont-Saint-Esprit, for example.

On the other hand, the inhabitants of Olley were referred to in this corner of the department as the “Culs Brûlés”, a nickname apparently dating back to the Middle Ages, and which no one is today able to explain. Hence the desire of the mayor, David Buono, to ask his constituents the question, as he explained last September: “We have gone without names for at least a millennium and we could continue like this, but involving all residents in this project is also the expression of citizen democracy.”

“Olleymains, CaféOlley or Olleyfilles?”

The vote took place in recent days, with residents invited to vote on a list of eight names, including we found Olleysien/Olleysienne, Olleygeois/Olleygeoise or Ollesien/Ollesienne, validated by the town hall. Others, more amusing, like “Olleymains, Olleycoeur, Olley-olé, Caféolley, Riolley, Olleyfilles” which made the chosen one smile, were however excluded.

In order to respect tradition, the name “Cul Brûlé” was however included in the list of proposals. And it was he who was ultimately selected by more than half of the 89 voters, out of a total population of 230 inhabitants, as France Info specifies.

“The weight of history prevailed, the inhabitants were keen to take on this kindness with pride”rejoiced the mayor, David Buono, who will now transmit this new name to the prefecture, which will definitively and officially be that of the inhabitants of Olley.