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French town snubs its Vandal heritage

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VANTOUSIENS, France, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- Residents of a small French town near Metz say they decided to change the name of their community because of its association with 5th Century riff-raff.

The town henceforth will be known as Vantousiens, rather than Vantoux, which translates to "Vandals," the East Germanic barbarian tribe that sacked Rome in 455 AD and gave rise to the English word "vandalism."

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"Too many visitors come here expecting to meet the wrong kind of people," Mayor Claude Vellei told The Daily Telegraph Tuesday. "We are not vandals, and there is no reason why people should refer to us in this way."

The name Vantousiens won the vote with 931 residents selecting it from a list of six proposed names. The town's new name wasn't that radical change since in French it means "from Vantoux."

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