They could have been called Breizh-Illiens, Ille-et-Vilainois, Gallovilliens or even Vilainilliens. But since June 20, 2013, the inhabitants of Ille-et-Vilaine are called Bretilliens. Contraction of Bretons and Illiens, this gentilé had been chosen by 38 votes against 12 by the elected members of the general council at the time, the latter preferring it to the name of Haut-Bretons which was also put to the vote. Ten years after this change of identity, do the inhabitants of Ille-et-Vilaine feel Bretilliens? And do they use this term to name themselves?
A quick survey in the street tends to prove that this gentile struggles to exist outside the institutional communication of the community, the discourse of elected officials and the media. “So, I’ve already read this name several times in the press but I never use it”, underlines Marine, crossed not far from the departmental council in the Beauregard district in Rennes. “As much as I feel Breton and Rennais but not too Bretillien,” says Romuald, a construction worker.
“Strengthening the sense of belonging”
In the corridors of the department, we do not pretend that the gentleman still lacks notoriety. “I think that there is still a majority of people who do not know him”, assures Jean-Luc Chenut, president of the departmental council of Ille-et-Vilaine. “It will take time anyway for people to appropriate it,” continues the elected socialist, not very talkative on the subject.
It was his predecessor Jean-Louis Tourenne, at the helm of the department from 2004 to 2015, who initiated the process, somewhat to everyone’s surprise, after an online survey conducted in 2012 by West France. Ille-et-Vilaine was then one of the rare French departments still devoid of gentility (read the box). “At that time, the departments were threatened with disappearance and it seemed important to me to have a gentile to have an identity and reinforce the feeling of belonging to the same community of destiny”, underlines the former senator of Ille -and-Vilaine.
The population not consulted on the name
A time considered, the question of organizing a referendum on the subject had finally been abandoned. Instead, a committee of experts had been appointed and two names proposed to the vote of the elected officials. “In the event of a referendum, there was the risk and the certainty that whatever the name proposed, it would cause rejection, assures Jean-Louis Tourenne. It therefore seemed to me preferable that the General Council decide alone. “A way also to prevent a wacky name from coming out of the ballot box like that of Breizh-Illien, who had been acclaimed by the readers of West France. “Perhaps this kind, more humorous, would have been adopted more easily by the population, recognizes Stéphane Lenfant, vice-president of the departmental council delegated to mobility. But we would also have lost credibility I think. »
Still, the method had greatly displeased Patrick Jehannin. “It was a masquerade because the population was never consulted,” he fumes still today. On his personal blog, ironically baptized To be or not to be from Brittany, this former executive of the University Hospital of Rennes never ceased for several months to knock out this gentleman “who was not natural and did not impose himself. “Ten years later, the one who feels more “Moldovan than Bretillien” has given up his fight a little.
An often misspelled demonym
But when we raise him on the subject, the naturalness quickly returns at a gallop. “We were also promised an evaluation to measure the degree of adoption of this gentile but nothing was done,” he says. But rather than rejection or acceptance, I think it elicits more indifference. “But it was useful to do so, replies Jean-Luc Chenut. Because there is a practical side to being able to name oneself. »
Provided, of course, that you spell the Bretillien gentilé correctly, which is not often well written. “I have counted about twenty associations that use this demonym in their denomination. And in half of the cases, it’s badly written,” jokes Patrick Jehannin. In Ille-et-Vilaine, there is still a long way to go before the inhabitants claim to be Bretilliens.