What do you call a person from Chelsea, Que.? Municipality taking names

Gabrielle Huston · CBC News

· Posted: May 08, 2025 1:02 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

A Chelsean? A Chelsite? A Chelski? What should a nonmigratory of Chelsea, Que., beryllium called?

There's nary agreed-upon choice, but the municipality is hoping to alteration that.

As portion of the celebrations for the 150th day of its founding, the municipality about 15 kilometres northbound of downtown Ottawa has launched an online canvass to fto residents state what they'd similar to beryllium called — besides known arsenic their demonym. 

"It's a bully mode to rally people," Chelsea Mayor Pierre Guénard told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning, adding that Chelsea is 1 of the fewer municipalities successful the Outaouais region without an authoritative demonym.

Once each the proposals have been collected, the municipality volition nonstop them to the Commission de toponymie du Québec for comments. Then the municipal assembly volition yet take 1 demonym to officially adopt.

The provincial body doesn't delegate demonyms nor officially admit them, a spokesperson told Radio-Canada. That's the relation of the municipality.

But the commission does support a database of demonyms and adds to it whenever a municipality submits a caller one, its website explains.

The committee told Radio-Canada that out of 67 municipalities successful the Outaouais, 56 person astatine slightest one demonym. 

Picking the perfect demonym

There are 3 criteria for Chelsea's caller demonym, according to the municipality: It should be "gender-inclusive oregon gender-neutral," travel the standards of the Guide de toponymie du Québec and be "well-pronounced successful some authoritative languages."

Guénard said he's peculiarly cognisant of the request to find a bilingual enactment for a bilingual community.

English is the parent lingua for 43 per cent of Chelsea residents, portion 46 per cent talk French and astir 70 per cent tin talk some languages, according to Statistics Canada information from the 2021 census.

"Chelsea has bilingual presumption but we are successful the state of Quebec, truthful French ever has to prevail," Guénard said. "So we are trying to find a sanction that could beryllium good pronounced successful some French oregon English, and that brings different level of information successful the process."

For that crushed and others, helium said he's glad the online signifier allows citizens to offer their ain proposals.

"We are hoping that the creativity of the assemblage volition bring precise bully ideas," Guénard said. He wouldn't uncover which sanction helium favours.

Here are conscionable a fewer of the demonyms up for consideration:

• Chelsois/Chelsoise.
• Chelseacois/Chelseacoise.
• Chelseaite.
• Chelski.
• Chelseyen/Chelseyenne.
• Chelsite.

Michel Prévost, president of the Société d'histoire de l'Outaouais, told Radio-Canada successful French that the municipality's sanction has existed since earlier 1875, but was lone officially recognized by the province's toponymy commission in 1990.

Prévost said choosing an authoritative demonym is an important decision.

"Once you follow it you person to beryllium definite to emotion it, due to the fact that you support it for a precise agelong time," helium said.

The nationalist tin explicit their preferences online until May 28. Anyone tin vote, but the signifier prompts radical to participate a postal code.

Guénard said helium hopes to person chosen an authoritative demonym by the extremity of the year.