Disgruntled of Lunt Disgrauntled of Launt

So the Merseyside village of Lunt may become Launt (pronounced [lunt]) in order to thwart those vandals who think it's hilarious to change the L to a C (because vandals would never think of just scribbling out the A on the signs, would they?). "This village is very, very old and people don't want the name changed," sez Steward Dobson on the Beeb. He should think himself lucky; I often used to receive mail to my Oxfordshire address with my village listed as Horsepat not Horspath (mainly from people whose language doesn't have the voiceless, dental fricative [th]). Lovely, eh?, especially given the name of my parents' road, which was the Butt of many jokes...

And of course, there's the village of Champagne in Switzerland that is going to have to change its name to Cava, if the French viticulteurs have their way, thanks to "a deal between the Swiss and the EU" in which "the village was supposed to stop using the name in 2004." What did the good people of Champagne get in return? A bottle of sparkling white wine per resident per year? Gotta love the French...