Highland Council yesterday dismissed reports that the name of Skye is to disappear this week to be replaced by its Gaelic name, Eilean a' Cheò.
The council moved to reassure the public and wider business community that the name of Skye would remain after its service centre received hundreds of telephone calls yesterday expressing concern at media coverage which claimed the new name, pronounced "ellan-uh-cheeyaw", will be formally adopted on Thursday when local authority elections are held.
A statement issued by the council yesterday said: "Eilean a' Cheò is one of 22 multi-member wards, which have been created as the result of the move to voting in The Highland Council election on Thursday by proportional representation, using the single transferable vote.
"It covers the islands of Skye and Raasay and has a population of 9600 and will be represented by four councillors. Eilean a' Cheò is simply the name of the electoral division. Many places in the Highlands are known by their English and Gaelic names, such as Portree (Port Righ)." The statement added: "Eilean a' Cheò was recommended by Skye and Lochalsh councillors as the name for the new electoral division and approved by the full council in September 2005, to reflect the importance of Gaelic on Skye.
"The council has also identified names for another 21 multi-member wards, which range from North West and Central Sutherland and Landward Caithness to Fort William and Ardnamurchan and Aird and Loch Ness.
"There is no intention to change road signage or literature. The island will continue to be referred to as Skye. Skye will remain on the tourist map and we don't envisage any problems for tourists who want to come to the area to sample its scenery, culture and heritage and perhaps find out more about Gaelic."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article