Fucking (yes, Fucking, spelled like that!) is a small Austrian village located 30 km north of Salzburg in the border region of Upper Austria. The tiny village has a population of just over 100 people but, as you can imagine, it has become an attraction for its unfortunate name, which in German has no bad meaning.
But why does it have such a name? It’s believed that the name “Fucking”, derives from Focko, who is a Bavarian nobleman that founded the village over a thousand years old.
The small village became famous worldwide since the birth of the internet, when it started to be included on bucket lists of the funniest place names. Since then, Fucking had become a place of pilgrimage for curious visitors who’d take pictures of the sign. But that’s not all: the signs got regularly stolen by souvenirs hunting vandals, although locals tried to prevent this from happening by encasing the bottom of the signs in concrete. Andrea Holzner, the mayor of Tarsdorf, the municipality to which the village belongs, says residents, known as Fuckingers, ‘have had enough of visitors and their bad jokes’
Needless to say, the small Austrian community has grown frustrated by these thefts and by tourists photographing the sign. This is why locals have been pushing for a name change for years.
Well, good news for all the Fuckingers… Last Thursday local leaders declared that the town will change its name starting from January 1st, 2021. All locals agreed to change the spelling from Fucking, to Fugging, finally putting an end to more than 1,000 years of mockery. However, it is unclear what will happen to the current town signs.Despite its name, the small town is absolutely beautiful. Fugging (to be) has a lot of natural places to see, from lakes to forests to wild views… And it’s very close to Salzburg, and quite close to Linz and Munich.The atmosphere is very chill
