In November 2020, a photograph supposedly showing two city workers in Austria changing the name of a town sign from "Fucking" to "Fugging" was circulated on social media:
The country of Austria was truly home to a town called "Fucking" for the last few centuries. In November 2020, however, the town of about 100 residents voted to change the name to something a little less obscene: Fugging.
The Local reports that town residents, known as Fuckingers, were tired of tourists coming to take pictures with their town signs (or worse, stealing them) and the ridicule their town received online.
The new name becomes official on Jan. 1, 2021. The Local reports:
Residents of an Austrian village will ring in the new year under a new name -- Fugging -- after ridicule, especially on social media, became too much to bear.
The villagers - who are officially known as Fuckingers - finally grew weary of Fucking.
Minutes from a municipal council meeting published Thursday showed that the village of some 100 souls 350 kilometres (215 miles) east [sic] of Vienna will be named Fugging from January 1, 2021.
[...]
"I can confirm that the village is being renamed," said Andrea Holzner, the mayor of Tarsdorf, the municipality to which the village belongs. "I really don't want to say anything more -- we've had enough media frenzy about this in the past."
(We note that Fucking/Fugging is actually 350 km. west of Vienna, not east of Vienna as stated above.)
Local lore suggests that the town's name of Fucking was derived from a Bavarian nobleman named Focko that settled in the area in the 6th century. Fugging's name has evolved over the centuries, spelled at various times as Fukching, Fugkhing, Fuking, and Fucking, which, in the local dialect, is pronounced "fooking."
Although changing the town's name from Fucking to Fugging may stop tourists from stealing town signs, this town will likely lose its spot on the map of "rudest place names in the world," which includes memorable locales like Butt Street, Intercourse Island, Break Wind Reserve, and Mount Fanny.