The Burgermeister was once offended By Cluj being called Klausenburg. “Bizza!” he complained, in 1904.
“Bizza! Zurüd! Es gibt fein Klausenburg in Ungard. Der offizielle und historische Name is Kolozsvar. Bitte nach Kolozsvar, Ungarn, zu adressiren. Restorat der Universität Kolozsvar.”
That university is now called UBB, Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai.
Not much has changed since then. These days, we can get Pizza and burgers in many locations when we visit Cluj. However, we can also get Langos and Palanets.
In English, Cluj was known as Kolozsvar or Klausenburg until about the first world war. When the town was ceded to Romania, it eventually became known as Cluj. (Although it was still called Kolozsvar in many US newspapers until the end of the second world war.)
But what difference does a name make? Well, it helps to be consistent.
In about 1903, the British war office had their own lesson in geography. A British officer went to the capital of Transylvania. On his arrival, he duly reported to his colonel about his arrival in Kolozsvar.
Then he wrote the war office, and he headed his letter with his address, the Grand Hotel, Klausenburg, (the German name of the town).
The authorities immediately replied, questioning how he dared travel from Kolozsvar to Klausenburg without asking permission or even consulting them first!
Then, in the 1970s, Ceausescu decided to add the word Napoca, in recognition of the old Roman settlement.
This became useful to differentiate the city from the county. The county is Cluj, but Cluj-Napoca refers to the city within the county. So, Cluj-Napoca excludes surrounding areas like Chinteni, Florește, and Pata Rât, but those are all in Cluj county.
For some time, the signs to Cluj-Napoca were written in different languages, but not Hungarian. Now, we see the Hungarian Kolozsvar is included in at least some of the welcome to Cluj signs.
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Sources: Der Deutsche correspondent. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.), (24 July 1904). Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045081/1904-07-24/ed-1/seq-5/>
Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.), 07 Jan. 1903. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn89081022/1903-01-07/ed-1/seq-5/>
Atlanta semi-weekly journal., October 09, 1902, Page 6, Image 6
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