Dropping Whitchurch? Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville considers name change

The town is considering a name change as part of a branding exercise

Yorkregion.com
Oct. 30, 2019
Simon Martin

What’s in a name? It depends who you ask in Whitchurch-Stouffville.

The town is undertaking a review of its proper name -- Whitchurch-Stouffville -- and has solicited feedback from residents.

The crux of the question is should the name stay the same or should Whitchurch be dropped.

There's no shortage of opinions from residents on the matter.

Local historian and Stouffville resident Fred Robbins sees no need for the change.

“We should keep Whitchurch,” he said. “It’s older than Stouffville. The village of Stouffville was originally split on Main Street between the Township of Whitchurch and the Township of Markham.”

The Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville was formed in 1971 in amalgamation, Robbins added.

“Let’s keep the big W,” he said.

Resident and former mayoral candidate Arnold Neufeldt-Fast said that Whitchurch-Stouffville along with Bradford West Gwillimbury, Plympton-Wyoming and Clarence Rockland are some of the few hyphenated communities left in Ontario.

“Hyphenated names are a mouthful and difficult to brand. I should know; my students typically call me ‘Dr. Arnold’ and take a pass on the hyphenated last name,” Arnold Neufeldt-Fast said.

Neufledt-Fast said future branding for the town would be made much easier with the name Stouffville.

Longtime resident of the Whitchurch-Stouffville Frank Van Veen would like to see the name remain the same.

He understands that the town might want to change it for branding purposes as a way to attract industry and commerce but he things a better compromise can be reached without dropping Whitchurch.

“I get the need to brand,” he said. “Historically this was the Township of Whitchurch and Stouffville was the hamlet.” Van Veen believes long-time residents of the town would be more resistant to the name change then people who have moved to the area recently.

Former local business owner Morley Lymburner pleaded in an opinion piece last year for the town to consider changing its name for marketing purposes alone.

“Whether you are from Gormley, Ballantrae, Lemonville, Ringwood or Stouffville, you should think seriously about identifying your greater community with a lot more simplicity. If for little more reason than to let future companies know you are on the map,” he said.

Council hasn’t yet discussed the matter at a meeting and is not expected to until December. Ward 3 Coun. Hugo Kroon hopes Whitchurch isn't dropped.

“I don’t see a real good reason to change it,” he said. “People are saying we have better things to do. I tend to agree with them.”

Ward 6 Coun. Sue Sherban said a decision might be more appropriate via a referendum.

As part of the 2019 capital, council approved $50,000 to go toward a new branding initiative.

Council decided the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville needed to refresh its corporate identity in order to stay relevant in today’s competitive world of attracting new businesses, residents and tourists.

In report, town staff said from a branding perspective, municipalities with a shorter names present less confusion to the public.

Challenges cited in the town report include frequent misspelling and mispronunciations of both the name Whitchurch and Stouffville.

“For a branding perspective the fewer the opportunities for mispronunciation and misspelling the better,” the report said.

Others include designing promotional material with 22 characters.

According to the report the painting of the Tenth Line water tower was postponed last year because of the length of the town’s name and the future branding exercise. According to the report, the hyphen also adds confusion as some logos don’t include it.

Geographically speaking the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville is the name of the municipality bounded by Davis Drive to the north, Highway 404 to the west, York-Durham Line to the east and approximately 200 metres north of 19th Avenue to the South.

Whitchurch Township originally extended to Yonge Street in the west and contained part of Aurora and Newmarket.