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Why Quimper-Vannes? Why Camper Vans?

Update: Quimper-Vannes has moved to a new site: https://quimpervannes.substack.com/

This Blogger site is now an archive. New articles, extracts and launch news for the English edition and French translation will appear on Substack.

Quimper and Vannes are, of course, two of the oldest and largest cities of Old Brittany, along with Rennes, Saint Brieuc, Brest and Nantes (now in Loire Atlantique).  
Their Breton names are Kemper and Gwened respectively.     



In French the names are pronounced ​/kɛ̃.pɛʁ van/, not unlike the English 'camper van'. I could have chosen Quemperven which has it all in one. 
But the pronunciation, unfortunately, is a bit off. 
In 2012 I published Colombo Jumbo: The Origin of Colombo Street Names. Quimper-Vannes struck me as a catchy and not too academic title for a similar sort of book.

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