>In article <34D2057D.5...@memex.com>, Alison Grant
><Alison.Gr...@memex.com> writes
>>I was on the way to Fort William the other day and one of those annoying
>>wee thoughts popped into my head - namely why is the town called
>>Dumbarton (with an 'em') but the area is called Dunbartonshire (with an
>>'en')?

>>I (originally from Leith, now in East Kilbride) asked my mother
>>(originally from Coatbridge, now in Leith) and she said she heard the
>>reason years ago but can't remember! Anybody got a clearer memory than
>>ma Ma?

>>Alison
>Alison.
>The correct form is Dumbarton and Dumbartonshire - because the County,
>Sheriffdom or what have you takes its name from the burgh.  However over
>the centuries various spellings were found and in the 18th century some
>people were using the Dunbarton spelling because it showed the
>derivation of the place name more clearly - Dun Breatan - the fort of
>the Britons.  By 1900 the County Council were using Dunbartonshire as
>the official name of the county - although the town's name remained as
>Dumbarton.  In the 1930's the County Council managed to persuade the
>Ordnance Survey to have the county shown on the OS maps as
>Dunbartonshire - despite strong opposition from the Town Council of the
>day.  In 1948 the new parliamentary constituencies of East and West
>Dunbartonshire were created - previously the area had been represented
>by the constituencies of Dumbartonshire and the Dumbarton District of
>Burghs.
>Between 1975 and 1996 the local authority covering a large part of the
>former Dumbarton County was Dumbarton District Council - but the last
>local government reorganisation managed to get things wrong again and
>created a West Dunbartonshire Council (and for that matter an East
>Dunbartonshire Council.)
>Bet you wish you hadn't asked!
>Brian.
>--