The village is 33 kilometres north of Salzburg, four kilometres east of the German border and can be travelled to in half an hour by car from the town of Petting, in Bavaria.
History and name
The frequently stolen traffic sign baring the old name.[3] at the entrance to the village of Fugging.
Fugging (which was Fucking at the time) has existed since at least 1070 and is named after a man from the 6th century called "Fuko". In old Germanic, "-ing" is used to describe people as belonging to their leader; so "Fucking" means "(place of) Fuko’s people."[4]
Although the village has a population of 104 as of 2005[update], it has drawn attention in the English-speaking world for its name, which is spelled the same as the continuous form of the profane English-language verb "fuck".[5][6]
Fucking's most famous feature is a traffic sign with its name on it, which tourists often photograph. This street sign is often stolen.[7] Significant public funds have been spent on replacing the stolen signs.[8]
In 2004, because many signs had been stolen, a vote was held to change the village name, but the villagers voted not to change.[4] In August2005, the road signs were welded to a very strong pole.[8] This made it more difficult to steal them.
Fucking changed its name to Fugging, the name change came to affect on 1 January 2021.
↑"F***ing signs now theft-proof". Ananova. Archived from the original on 30 September 2005. Retrieved 15 December 2006. The Austrian town of F***ing has erected theft-proof road signs embedded in concrete blocks. Officials acted because they were fed up with English-speaking tourists stealing them as souvenirs.
